France has formally returned three human skulls taken during its colonial rule to Madagascar, including one believed to belong to a 19th-century Malagasy king. The restitution, which took place during a ceremony in Paris on Tuesday, marks a significant moment in France’s ongoing efforts to address the legacy of its colonial past. It follows a 2023 law enabling such returns.
France on Tuesday returned three colonial-era skulls to Madagascar, including one believed to be a Malagasy king beheaded by French troops during a 19th-century massacre.
The skull presumed to be that of King Toera and two others from the Sakalava ethnic group were handed over at a ceremony at the French culture ministry.
French troops beheaded King Toera in 1897, and his skull was taken to France as a trophy, later placed in Paris's national history museum alongside hundreds of other remains from the Indian Ocean Island.
"These skulls entered the national collections in circumstances that clearly violated human dignity and in a context of colonial violence," said French Culture Minister Rachida Dati, describing the moment as "historic".
Her Madagascar counterpart, Volamiranty Donna Mara, welcomed the return of the skulls as "an immensely significant gesture".
"Their absence has been, for more than a century, 128 years, an open wound in the heart of our island," she said.
France has sought to confront its colonial past, by returning artefacts and human remains from its museums to their countries of origin.
This is the first restitution under a 2023 law facilitating the return of human remains from France's public collections.
A joint scientific committee confirmed the skulls were from the Sakalava people but said it could only "presume" that one belonged to King Toera, Dati said.
Since his election in 2017, President Emmanuel Macron has acknowledged past French abuses in Africa.
On an April visit to Antananarivo, Macron spoke of seeking "forgiveness" for France's "bloody and tragic" colonization of Madagascar, which declared independence in 1960 after more than 60 years of colonial rule.
The remains will return to the Indian Ocean Island on Sunday.
With AFP
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