Dutch University Has Tribal Head

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — It's a brutal 19th century revenge story: An African tribal chief kills two Dutch emissaries and hangs their heads from his throne. In retaliation, a Dutch general has him killed and decapitated.

Almost 200 years later, the dispute may finally be laid to rest. On Tuesday, a Dutch academic hospital acknowledged it has the head of chief Badu Bonsu II, but it would not disclose whether it would be returned to Ghana as requested.

The Leiden University Medical Center had refused to comment in October when Ghana learned that the center likely had the head in its anatomical collection, and asked for it to be returned to the Ashanti region where he ruled.

"Without burial of the head, the deceased will be hunted in the afterlife. He's incomplete," Eric Odoi-Anim, a minister at Ghana's embassy, said at the time. "It's also a stigma on his clan, on his kinsmen, and him being a (high-ranking) chief _ this is even more serious."

Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said in a note to parliament that he sympathized with Ghana's request, and the center responded on its Web site Tuesday that it is "processing" the application for return. It stopped short of saying whether it actually plans to return the head.

The center said it would not discuss the matter further publicly.

"We have a well-considered policy about our anatomic-historical collection," it said in a statement.

The existence of the head was brought to light by prominent Dutch writer Arthur Japin, who said on television he had come across it, preserved with formaldehyde in a glass container, while researching a historical novel.

"He's got a little ring-beard, his eyes are closed as if he's sleeping," said Japin. "And my first thought was, this is not fitting."

Japin seized the opportunity of a state visit by Ghana's President John Kufuor in October to draw attention to the matter.

The Dutch established trading and slave posts in Ghana in the late 1500s, and remained involved in the country _ then known in Europe as the Gold Coast _ until late in the 19th century.

According to Japin, the head was taken by Maj. Gen. Jan Verveer in retaliation for Bonsu's killing of two Dutch emissaries, whose heads were then hung from his throne as trophies.

It was not clear exactly when Bonsu was killed. Verveer was recruiting soldiers and slaves in Ashanti to serve in the East Indies in the late 1830s.

The head was apparently brought to Leiden around that time at the request of a researcher who studied skull shapes.

Comments

[jimmyjones22]

I say keep the head. Its 200 years old and not bothering anybody...

[NoSandwiches]

What purpose is served by keeping an old head in a jar?
Please!
The Ashanti People of Ghana have given us Anansi, my little son's favorite story.
The least they can do is return this grisely reminder of the disregard shown for the Ashanti and other tribes in the past.
google Anansi and Ashanti for some cool stories about the trickster spider.
The best book is by Gerald McDermott, as it uses art to tell key parts of the story and gives the flavor of an elder telling the story to children.

[Solo500]

The contemporary show "Bodies" uses Chinese corpses--that seems the more egregious example. Of/c the time is right for the Dutch to return this head.

[ZimboChick]

What is wrong with these effin people. And yeah idiots this is not an artifact, its a person. Take that and smoke it sickos

[friscotxmom]

This is my nominee for this year's Biggest Missed Opportunity for a Fell.atio-Related Headline award. I personally would have liked to have seen "Ghana Demands The Netherlads Give It Head". Anyone else?

[ZimboChick]

no and f u

[larry278]

It's a bet that nobody named Phil or Otto will handle the request. What are the odds?

[WmC]

Dutch should offer to flip a coin: tails you win, heads you lose.

[friscotxmom]

zing!

[newworldman777]

If they decide to give back the head, then perhaps George Bush 41, George Bush 43, John Kerry, and all of the other arses who are members of the Skull and Bones Society of Yale University will take notice and return the Apache leader Geronimo's skull and bones, which Bush's grandfather Prescott Bush stole from his grave at the Fort Sill, OK cemetery.

[biabouman41]

The museums in London and Brussels are loaded with stolen artifacts from Africa, nearly all stolen and they have no plans to surrender them. But not as ghoulish as this one. You would think the "sophisticated" Dutch would have tossed it a long, long time ago. Why did they keep it???

[Annieke]

I think the artifact was forgotten in the large vaults of the museum.

It is one of the eldest medical museums in European history; the collection started with a legacy of Dutch scientist Boerhaave, so you can imagine how huge their collection has become over the centuries.

And 'tossing' things is not something Dutch museums tend to do, I know from experience having worked in th archives of two Dutch museums during my college years.

[gcallaghan]

From the article:
"The Leiden medical center declined to release photographs or film "out of respect" for Bonsu's remains."

For god's sake, they've got the guy's head on a shelf in a jar. It's a little late to play the respect card.

[FearlessFreep]

Verveer was "recruiting" slaves?

[Annieke]

Actually, he was buying the slaves from the clan-heads who sold the difficult people in their clan/ tribe to get rid of people who might have challenged their position within the tribe.

And buying captivated tribe-members who were imprisoned by other, rivalling, clans.
So I guess 'recruiting' is the appropriate word.

Still, as a Dutch woman I consider the slave-trade one of the blackest pages in our history and not a thing to be proud of.

[yngskywlkr]

I need to get the headline for this article on a T shirt ... classic

[BurgessPenguin]

Meanwhile, the search continues for George W. Bush's brain...

[larry278]

That, like the Holy Grail, is a myth. Shall we go on to the Shroud of Turin?

[shanghaislim]

Run away! Run away!............

[FreedomAgain]

Glad to hear Bonsu took a couple of them with him.

[sankofaman]

My sentiments exactly.

[vtlt8]

Yeah, those were HIS slaves the Dutch were trying to take, the bastards.

[vtlt8]

Yeah, those were HIS slaves the Dutch were trying to take.

[Lex10]

So, when are they Ghana give it back?

[sankofaman]

Juvenile.

[shanghaislim]

WTF? .................................X

[climatebabes]

Next please bury all the foetusses and mutated newlyborns you can see in glass jars in some universities. The jars are never opened, so pictures or film should equally serve their purpose.

[shanghaislim]

WTF?...................................X

[LeftLeanWing]

WTF...... ?