ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — Seven royal artifacts looted 150 years ago by British colonial forces from Ghana’s ancient Asante kingdom and kept by a United States museum have been returned and presented to the kingdom on Thursday, the latest of a series of stolen treasured items being repatriated to several African countries.

Looted from British-colonized Ghana in the 19th century before being transferred to Fowler Museum at the University of California, Los Angeles, in the 1960s, the artifacts included an elephant tail whisk, an ornamental chair made of wood, leather and iron, two gold stool ornaments, a gold necklace and two bracelets.

“We are here … (because) the white man came into Asanteman to loot and destroy it,” Otumfuo Osei Tutu, the king of the Assante kingdom in Ghana’s largest city of Kumasi, said at a presentation ceremony that brought joy and relief to the kingdom.

After decades of resistance from European and Western governments and museums, the efforts of African countries to repatriate stolen artifacts are paying off with the increasing return of treasured pieces. Activists, though, say thousands more are still out of reach.

  • @saltesc@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Someone needs to make a website that tracks the British Empire giving their “trinkets” back to the original cultures.

    I would, but I’m lazy and already came up with the idea so I’ve done my part.

    Wait. Call it Tipu’s Tiger for the irony derision. Boom. That’s two good ideas. Get on it, nerds.