How Does returning a HEAD 200 years later say “I’m Sorry”
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009
How Does returning the Pickled Lost HEAD of a King 200 years later say “I’m Sorry”.
That’s what we want to know. we’ve written about the Saartjie Baartman story several years ago; and when we saw this it was like Deja Vu.
Why do they put people in formaldahyde and hide them; then forget about them for a hundred or so years and boom – ohhhh you found this head.
are you sure you lost it ?
we doubt it since the dutch are so metiliculous about cataloging everything, including HEADS and Slaves. am I still pissed from my last trip to holland ? well lets just say this was a none too subtle reminder of the larger than life reminders of how holland sees’ itself; aside from it’s Slaving History.
This Chief – King Badu Bonsu II, was killed by a Pirate – who was conscripted by the Dutch Masters at the time. how did HE come into Ghana and Kill a King ?
Welll That’s the part of the story that we’re still waiting to hear from Our Brothers in Ghana. we know many many kingdoms were financed by selling their captives and enemies. could one of those tribes have taken a contract to off the king and then delivered his head to the dutch pirate ?
according to Dr. Van Sertima, the dutch outlawed slavery in 1814 – but our king was wacked in 1838 – wayyyyyyyyyy after the dutch stopped slaving supposedly.
sounds more likely that a buncha pissed enemies did the deed; than a buncha dutchmen sailing into a village and just going “Off With Your Head” King. I’d really like to hear the REAL TRUTH behind this tragedy.
Somehow these stories seem to leave it out
Dutch return severed head of Ghana chief
An extraordinary ceremony took place Thursday in the Netherlands. Members of the Ahanta kingdom in Ghana were in The Hague to identify and retrieve the head of King Badu Bonsu II, beheaded 171 years ago. Clad in red and black traditional mourning attire, they honoured the memory of the deceased by pouring a gin libation with Dutch officials.
Badu Bonsu II was beheaded in 1838 to avenge the killing of two Dutch settlers, after which General Jan Verveer transported the head in a jar filled with formalin to be studied. It was eventually forgotten in the Dutch University of Leiden’s medical reserves. When a writer researching for a historical novel in 2008 discovered it, the Ahanta people immediately sought restitution to enable their ancestor to finally rest in peace.
Reparation
But the descendants of the former king want more. Thursday, at the ceremony, the head was not exposed. It was given to the Ghanaians on Friday. In addition, Ghanaian officials are afraid of breaking protocol: according to them, they have not yet been authorised by their reigning chief to bring back the head with them.
Nana Darko Kwekwe III, who led the ceremony, mourned the deceased king and asked the former coloniser for reparation: by constructing schools and hospitals. The Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister, Maxime Verhagen, used the ceremony as a platform to apologise on behalf of his country for the slave trade.
This is not the first time an African country has claimed back a Human trophy stored in Europe. In 2002, France gave the body of Saartjie Baartman back to South Africa. After her death The South African woman’s corpse was cast in plaster and dissected, nicknamed The Hottentot Venus and displayed at the Museum of Mankind (Musée de l’Homme) in Paris. She was portrayed as a beast at freak shows and made to work as a prostitute, in London and Paris. She remained at the Parisian Musée de l’Homme (Museum of Mankind) until 1974 (1985, according to some) when she was moved into the museum’s reserves. The remains of Saartjie Baartman, including her brains and private parts preserved in formalin fluids, were sent back to South Africa in 2002.
Ancient king’s head discovered last year in a jar of formaldehyde
Dutch return severed head of Ghana chief – Europe- msnbc.com.
The head of King Badu Bonsu II was discovered last year in a jar of formaldehyde gathering dust in the anatomical collection of the Leiden University Medical Center. The Dutch government, embarrassed by its discovery, agreed to Ghanaian demands that the relic be returned.
On Thursday, members of the king’s Ahanta tribe, dressed in dark robes and wearing red sashes, took part in the hand-over ceremony, honoring his spirit by toasting with Dutch gin and then sprinkling the drink over the floor at the Dutch Foreign Ministry.
But descendants of the chief said they were not consoled.
“I am hurt, angry. My grandfather has been killed,” said Joseph Jones Amoah, the great, great grandson of the chief.
The chief’s head was stored elsewhere at the ministry and was not displayed during the ceremony. It is expected to be flown with the tribe members back to Ghana on Friday.
Tribal elders said after the hand-over that they were also angry because they had been sent by their current chief only to identify the head, not retrieve it. Taking it back without first reporting to the chief would be a breach of protocol, they said.
“We, the Ahanta, are not happy at all,” said Nana Etsin Kofi II.
‘Unfortunate and shameful’
The head was taken by Maj. Gen. Jan Verveer in 1838 in retaliation for Bonsu’s killing of two Dutch emissaries, whose heads were displayed as trophies on Bonsu’s throne, said Arthur Japin, a Dutch author who discovered the king’s head when he was working on a historical novel.
The elders demanded the Dutch government provide aid to their tribe to appease the slain chief.
Nana Kwekwe Darko III, who tipped the gin onto the floor according to tradition, dabbed tears from his eyes afterward and said he wanted the Dutch to build schools and hospitals for his people.
Ministry spokesman Bart Rijs said that 10 tribal chiefs who came from Ghana had agreed before the ceremony to take the head home. The official transfer was between the two countries’ governments, he said.
Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen used the ceremony to apologize for Dutch involvement in the slave trade. Ghana, then known as Gold Coast, was a base for Dutch slave traders.
“We are also here because of our mutual desire to lay to rest episodes in … history that were unfortunate and shameful,” Verhagen said. “Our common past also includes the infamous slave trade, which our traders engaged in and sustained and which inflicted so much harm on so many people in so many parts of the world.”
Final plans to be determined
Ghana has lobbied for the head’s return since it was discovered.
“Without burial of the head, the deceased will be hunted in the afterlife. He’s incomplete,” Eric Odoi-Anim, a Ghanaian diplomat in the Netherlands said after the discovery. “It’s also a stigma on his clan, on his kinsmen, and him being a (high-ranking) chief — this is even more serious.”
It was unclear what would become of it once it reaches Ghana.
Berima Asamoah Kofi IV, a traditional chief who now lives in the Netherlands, said the Ahanta chief would ultimately decide its fate.
“Whatever he says, we are going to do,” he said.
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