In the previous month, seven royal artefacts, looted 150 years ago by British Empire from Ghana’s Asante kingdom, were repatriated.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Ghana’s Asantehene, met the museum director to seek the return of items taken during an 1874 conflict with the British colonial forces.
The British Museum, a public-owned institution, has faced scrutiny in the past decade for artefacts, including those from Africa, viewed by some as stolen treasures. Critics argue that the items, like the Benin Bronzes from Nigeria, were often acquired through colonialism and looting, prompting discussions on repatriation.
Thousands of artefacts from Africa are scattered worldwide, with only 5% of stolen African artefacts returned to their countries of origin. The British Museum notes that many objects from Benin in its collection were given in 1898 by the Foreign Office and the Admiralty.
In October, top European museums agreed to loan crucial artefacts to Nigeria for the new Royal Museum set to open in 2021. The collection of the British Museum encompasses about 80 items originating from the northern Ethiopian region of Maqdala, now recognised as Amba Mariam.
In the latter half of the 19th century, Emperor Tewodros II (reigned 1855-868) established a fortress, library and treasury in the area. The Maqdala treasures, including an 18th-century gold crown and a royal wedding dress taken from Ethiopia by the British army in 1868, remain notable.
Historians highlight the extensive looting of Maqdala, with some treasures later deposited at the UK’s Victoria and Albert Museum. The Victoria and Albert Museum received a repatriation request from Ethiopia’s former president in 2008.
The request was rejected after a decade-long offer to loan the objects back.
In 1902, British officials seized the Ngadji, a sacred drum of Kenya’s Pokomo people, stored in the British Museum for more than a century but never displayed.
The debate on African treasures reflects global discussions on the ethics of acquisition during colonisation, urging museums to respond to calls for repatriation. Similarly, the museum also houses artefacts from ancient Egypt, which geographically belongs to Africa, such as the iconic Rosetta Stone.
The Ancient Egypt Department, integral to the British Museum’s historical identity, boasts a collection exceeding 100 000 pieces, establishing it as the most extensive and comprehensive assortment of Egyptian antiquities outside Cairo’s Egyptian Museum.
Over the centuries, the region, once home to or under the influence of various powers, including the Umayyads, Fatimids, Abbasids, Mamelukes, Ayyubids and Ottomans, has witnessed the relocation of precious items.
The British colonial legacy left ethnic and religious tension, employing divide-and-rule strategies that contributed to persistent conflicts.
Economic exploitation of Africa’s natural resources, focusing on minerals like gold and diamonds, resulted in an uneven distribution of wealth.
For instance, the Star of South Africa, a 47.69-carat diamond found in 1869, continues to captivate South Africans, raising the question of when the British Empire will return the renowned gem, considered one of the world’s largest diamonds.
* Halim Gençoğlu.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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