US EditionFrance returns three colonial-era human skulls to Madagascar
The return of three Sakalava skulls, including one presumed to be King Toera's, follows a 2023 French law to expedite repatriation of human remains from colonial collections.
- France returned three colonial-era human skulls, including that of King Toera, to Madagascar on August 26 at a ceremony in Paris.
- The skulls were taken as trophies by French troops during a violent 1897 assault on the Sakalava Menabé kingdom in western Madagascar.
- The remains had been kept for almost 130 years at France’s Museum of Natural History, which houses more than 20,000 human remains collected globally for scientific purposes.
- The French Culture Minister Rachida Dati described the repatriation as a "historic event," while Madagascar’s Minister of Culture expressed that the return of the skulls represented a deeply meaningful act.
- This handover is the first return under a 2023 French law designed to expedite repatriation of human remains, marking a step toward reconciliation over colonial injustices.
78 Articles
78 Articles
France Returns the Skull of a King
France has formally returned the skull of King Toera, a ruler beheaded by French troops in 1897, to Madagascar. The handover took place at a Tuesday ceremony in Paris, where the skulls of two other court members were also returned. The remains had spent over a century stored at the...
France Returns Skull of Malagasy King Toera
Flag of France. Credit: Leo Reynolds / Flickr / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 France has returned three human skulls to Madagascar, including one believed to belong to 19th-century Malagasy King Toera, in a historic ceremony marking the country’s first official restitution under a 2023 law aimed at addressing colonial-era injustices. The handover took place on Tuesday at the French Ministry of Culture in Paris, where officials from both nations gathered for w…
France returns King Toera’s skull to Madagascar after 128 years
French forces took the remains of King Toera and two other Sakalava people in 1897. The troops beheaded King Toera during a colonial-era massacre in the village of Ambiky. French forces transported the skulls to France as war trophies, and Paris’s National Museum of Natural History has since stored them. A NEW ERA FOR RECONCILIATION France conducted its first repatriation under the new 2023 law. The legislation simplifies the process for returni…
France returns skull of king beheaded during colonial era to Madagascar
France has returned three skulls to Madagascar more than a century after they were taken, including one believed to be that of a 19th-century Malagasy king who was beheaded by French troops.
Since 1960 the island state in the Indian Ocean is independent of France. 65 years later skulls return from a Paris museum. One of them could belong to a former king.
France Returns Human Skulls to Madagascar 128 Years After Colonial Violence - teleSUR English
France has returned three human skulls to Madagascar, including one believed to belong to King Toera, who was executed and decapitated by French colonial troops in 1897. RELATED: South Africa’s HIV Crisis Deepens as U.S. Aid Cuts Leave Thousands Without Lifesaving Care The skulls, all from the Sakalava ethnic group, were handed over on Tuesday during a ceremony at the French Ministry of Culture. They had been kept in Paris for more than a centur…
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