Monday, July 27, 2009
Badu Bonsu II
Dutch author Arthur Japin was conducting research for his next novel when he made a startling discovery at Leiden University Medical Centre: the nearly 200-year-old head of an African king. Badu Bonsu II was once chief of the Ahanta, a tribe living in what was then the Dutch Gold Coast (today the nation of Ghana), who ran afoul of the colonialists when he cut off the heads of two Dutch emissaries in 1837. The Dutch responded in kind by capturing, hanging and then beheading Bonsu, sending his skull back to the Netherlands for scientists practicing phrenology to study. The king’s skull was preserved in a jar of formaldehyde and soon forgotten, until Japin rediscovered it.
After Japin informed the current leadership of Ghana about Bonsu’s skull, the government lobbied the Dutch for the king’s return. The return of Bonsu’s head held great importance for descendants of the Ahanta, who believe their former chief has been hunted in the after-life since his burial without his skull. Eric Odoi-Anim, Ghana’s chargé d'affaires in the Netherlands, told the Associated Press: “He is incomplete. It is also a stigma on his clan, on his kinsmen–and him being a [high-ranking] chief, it is even more serious.”
Bonsu’s head was safely returned to Ghana July 24 and the Ghanaian government promised to work with the Ahantaman traditional council to prepare a proper burial.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Bring Us the Head of King Badu Bonsu, Said Ghana – and the Dutch Said Yes (by Peter Popham, The Independent)
The Netherlands Gives Back the Head of King Badu Bonsu II to Ghana (by Claire Schaffner, Afrik.com)
Preserved Head of Ancient Ahanta King Returns Home (Ghana Broadcasting Corporation)
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