Colonialism and Cultural Objects

Abstract The repatriation and restitution of cultural objects, legally and illegally exported and held in foreign public and private museums, have for long been a subject of international concern. In West Africa, colonialization and the activities of the agencies of colonialism accounted for the largest proportion of cultural objects that were forcefully removed or voluntarily released by the locals through deceits and then exported from the region. The modern West African states had since independence joined in the longstanding international quest for the repatriation and restitution of looted cultural objects. Nigeria in particular had been in the vanguard of the agitation for repatriation and restitution of objects, because the looted Benin cultural objects constitute the single largest number of objects forcefully removed from Africa during the colonial period. The call for the repatriation and restitution of the Benin cultural objects has prompted debates and reactions in Nigeria and around the world.