Sarah Baartman

Sarah Baartman was a Khoikhoi woman from southern Africa exhibited in Europe in the early 19th century. Her exploitation and the treatment of her remains became enduring examples of colonial racism.

Connect

Hendrik Cesars: A South African man who accompanied Sarah Baartman to England and was associated with her early exhibition. He traveled with Baartman to London, where she was exhibited in 1810.
Khoikhoi: An Indigenous people of southern Africa historically known for pastoralism and distinct Khoekhoe languages. Baartman belonged to a Khoikhoi community in the Cape region.
Scientific racism: The misuse of scientific claims and methods to justify racial hierarchy and discrimination. Baartman's body was invoked in European arguments that ranked human groups.
Human exhibition: The public display of living people as spectacles, often shaped by racial, colonial, or commercial power. It describes the practice through which Baartman was presented to European audiences.
Alexander Dunlop: A British ship's surgeon associated with bringing Sarah Baartman to England for exhibition. His role in arranging Baartman's arrival helped launch her European exhibition.
Cape Colony: A European colony established at the Cape of Good Hope, governed successively by Dutch and British powers. Baartman's early life unfolded under British rule in the Cape Colony.
Human zoos: Public exhibitions that displayed people, often from colonized societies, as objects of ethnographic or racial spectacle. Her European appearances belong to a history of displaying people for paying audiences.
Consent: Voluntary and informed agreement to an action or arrangement. Accounts of Baartman's choices must be distinguished from the coercive conditions surrounding her exhibition.
Reaux: A Parisian animal trainer who exhibited Sarah Baartman in France. He controlled Baartman's later Paris exhibitions and her treatment after her death.
Dutch Cape Colony: The Dutch colonial possession at the Cape of Good Hope, established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652. Earlier Dutch rule formed part of the colonial history preceding Baartman's lifetime.