History Badu Bonsu II; The King whose head was Preserved...

Badu Bonsu II; The King whose head was Preserved in a jar in a laboratory

-

- Advertisement -
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin
Telegram

The leader of the Ahanta tribe in the Western Region and a Ghanaian king Badu Bonsu II was executed in 1838 by the Dutch.

The leader of the Ahanta tribe in the Western Region and a Ghanaian king Badu Bonsu II was executed in 1838 and the head cut offby the Dutch.
Drawing of Badu Bonsu II made by a Dutch lieutenant, 1838

The Kundum festival is celebrated by the people of Ahanta and Nzema in the Western Region.

King Badu Bonsu II

king Badu Bonsu II, who was leader of the Ahanta tribe, is believed to have been decapitated in retaliation for the killing of two Dutch emissaries in 1838.

According to the Dutch government, Badu Bonsu II was handed over by his own “nation”

to Dutch colonists, who were then in control of a part of the former Gold Coast that included Ahanta tribal lands.

The Discovery

The head was taken by Maj. Gen. Jan Verveer in 1838 in retaliation for King Badu Bonsu

II ‘s killing of two Dutch emissaries, whose heads were displayed as trophies on Bonsu’s

throne, said Arthur Japin, a Dutch author who discovered the king’s head when he was working on a historical novel.

The leader of the Ahanta tribe in the Western Region and a Ghanaian king Badu Bonsu II was executed in 1838 by the Dutch.
The preserved head of Badu Bonsu II

Preserved in a jar of formaldehyde, the head of King Badu Bonsu II was discovered

gathering dust in a laboratory in the Leiden University Medical Centre by Arthur Japin, a

best-selling Dutch author. It had been there since its arrival in the late 1830s from what was then called the Dutch Gold Coast and is today Ghana.

Mr Japin, the Dutch novelist, explained how he had helped reunite Badu Bonsu II head

with his body. “I was researching my novel about an Ahanta boy brought to Holland in

1838, and in the process I learned about the head of the king, who had been a friend of the boy,” he said.

“I had been looking for the head for more than 10 years because as a novelist you

become obsessed with finding out everything possible about your subjects. Finally, in

2002 I found it locked away in a dark cupboard where it had been for more than 170 years.

“The staff took it out of the round jar and put it on the laboratory sink for me. It had

been turned white by the formaldehyde but it was still life-size and he looked as if he was asleep. I felt, ‘this is so wrong, you should go home’.”

The Return

After hearing of the head’s location in 2008, Ghana filed a request for its return, saying, “Without burial of the head, the deceased will be hunted in the afterlife.”

In March 2009, government officials announced that it would be returned to its homeland for proper burial.

The leader of the Ahanta tribe in the Western Region and a Ghanaian king Badu Bonsu II was executed in 1838 by the Dutch. The leader of the Ahanta tribe in the Western Region and a Ghanaian king Badu Bonsu II was executed in 1838 by the Dutch.

The Dutch and Ghanaian governments and a member of Badu Bonsu’s Ahanta tribe

signed a pact in The Hague for the handover of the head, which remained out of sight in

a room elsewhere in the foreign ministry building for the ceremony.

Ahanta tribe leaders held an emotional ritual, pouring alcohol on the floor of the

conference room while invoking the chief’s spirit in the presence of Ghanaian nationals dressed in the country’s red and black mourning colours.

Ghana claimed the head of Badu Bonsu II, which had been preserved in formaldehyde in

a bottle among the anatomy collection of the university in the western Dutch town of

Leiden  on July 23, 2009

 

 

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Latest news

Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah ‘s Journey of No Return

Today in History, On February 21, 1966, Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah left Ghana for Hanoi, the Democratic Republic of North...

Celebrating Ebony Reigns- 5 Years of her departure

Today is exactly 5 years since Priscilla Opoku Kwarteng, a.k.a. Ebony Reigns passed, in a very horrible vehicle accident...

Nii Kwabena Bonne II- Today in History led a boycott of all European goods

Today in History, Nii Kwabena Bonne II organized a boycott of all European goods in response to their high...

Rosemond Nkansah – first female Ghanaian police

Rosemond Nkansah, the first Ghanaian woman to be enlisted into the Ghana Police Service, then the Gold Coast Police...

Melody Millicent Danquah, first female Ghanaian pilot

Melody Millicent Danquah, She was Ghana's First Female Pilot and Squadron Leader. She was the first to...

Nana Yaa Asantewaa dies in Seychelles (Today in History)

Today in History, On October 17, 1921, Nana Yaa Asantewaa, Queen mother of Ejisu and a great warrior of...

Must read

Ghana National Grand Mosque, second Largest in West Africa.

Ghana National Grand Mosque, it is the second largest...

Ghana confirms new cases of Coronavirus

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has confirmed five (5)...
- Advertisement -

You might also likeRELATED

Recommended to you

Translate »