Madagascar has received three human skulls taken by French colonial troops during a massacre in 1897, in what both countries hailed on Tuesday as a “historic” restitution.
The remains, one of which is believed to belong to King Toera of the Sakalava people, had been kept for over a century at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, the French news broadcaster BFMTV reported.
They were seized after French forces carried out a deadly attack on Ambiky, the former royal capital of Menabe, during the early phase of colonisation.
“These skulls entered the national collections in conditions that objectively contravene human dignity and in a context of colonial violence,” French Culture Minister Rachida Dati said at the Paris ceremony.
'Open wound in the heart'
Malagasy Culture Minister Volamiranty Donna Mara described their absence as “an open wound in the heart of our island for more than a century, 128 years.”
The skulls, transported in trunks draped in traditional fabrics, were handed over to Malagasy authorities on Tuesday and will be flown to Madagascar on August 31.
They are set to be buried following several days of ceremonies.
The restitution is the first carried out under a framework law adopted in late 2023, which allows France to return human remains despite the legal principle of inalienability of public collections. A separate draft law on the restitution of cultural property was submitted to the French Cabinet in July.
'Gesture of immense significance'
French President Emmanuel Macron, who urged the move during a visit to Madagascar in April, said the return of the remains could help create “conditions” for “forgiveness” over the “bloody and tragic pages” of colonisation.
France ruled Madagascar from 1897 until the country gained independence in 1960.
“This gesture of immense significance opens a new era of cooperation between our countries,” said Donna Mara.
While Dati confirmed the skulls came from the Sakalava ethnic group, she said science could not provide absolute certainty that one belonged to King Toera. “It is scientifically permissible to presume that one of these skulls is his, without absolute certainty,” she noted.
The restitution follows France’s 2020 return of 24 skulls to Algeria, though later investigations questioned their provenance.
