African heritage

Students at a Cambridge University college have voted that a bronze cockerel that stands in its hall should be repatriated to Africa, from where it was looted in the 19th century. The cockerel – known properly as “okukor”, according to the students – was among hundreds of artworks taken from the Benin empire, now part of modern-day Nigeria, after a punitive British naval expedition in 1897 that brought the empire to an end. Nigeria has repeatedly called for all the Benin bronzes – which it says are part of its cultural heritage – to be repatriated.

As well as looting art, the British killed thousands and set the city of Benin ablaze during the 1897 expedition, which led to the annexation of the kingdom. The mission was intended to avenge the deaths of nine officers during a previous trade mission to Benin.

The British were said to be astonished that a civilisation they considered primitive could be responsible for the Benin bronzes.

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