this is the british museum it's the world's largest world history museum and it draws millions of visitors every year inside it holds more than eight million cultural and historical artifacts from all over the world which cover 2 million years of human history if you follow the museum's recommended list of don't miss items you'll see its star pieces like this easter island sculpture that's about a thousand years old or this bronze sculpture of the hindu god shiva [Music] but there's a problem hidden in the museum and we can see an example of it along this route
out of those 12 pieces nearly half have disputed ownership the british museum claims those pieces belong there on display for the world to see but in recent years many have been fighting to get them back to where they came from the list of disputed museum treasures keeps on growing should cultural artifacts return to their home countries or be left in western museums the subject of intense debate as to who should now own them let's start with some context in the late 1600s the british empire began expanding across several continents it became the largest empire in
history controlling about a quarter of the world's land and population during its centuries-long role the empire took precious resources and wealth from countries all over the world including cultural and historical artifacts many of which ended up here in the british museum which was founded in 1753 and kept growing to accommodate all the new pieces in its collection lots of the items in the museum were legally acquired and are completely undisputed like this one a two thousand year old roman base sold to the museum by a duke in 1945. the problem is with the pieces that
are disputed like the first item you see as soon as you walk in the rosetta stone taken by british troops from the french in what is now egypt or further in the parthenon sculptures removed from the acropolis in athens by a british lord and sent to the british museum or over here on the floor dedicated to african art the benin bronzes some of the most contentious items in the museum the benin bronzes are kind of hard to categorize because they include such a huge range of items from engraved ivory tusks to brass sculptures to plaques
but they were all produced here in the kingdom of benin in present-day nigeria this wealthy and industrious kingdom produced thousands of objects and art pieces starting in the 1500s a lot of the items adorned palace walls and were used for religious rituals but they weren't just decorative there were visual archives of the kingdom in a society that did not develop a written script as we know them that's professor chika okekeyagulu an art historian and professor from nigeria who teaches at princeton university they told their history how they narrated the histories of kingship of the kingdom
its political and social life but in 1897 benin would lose thousands of these cultural pieces at the time european colonial powers were expanding south in what was called the scramble for africa they split up the continent into spheres of influence for financial exploitation all these pink areas were the british ones benin over here was in britain's sphere of influence but the kingdom didn't comply with britain's trade demands and in january of 1897 it led to what was called the benin disaster where benin guards killed seven british emissaries plus their many guides and servants in response
1 200 british troops embarked on a mission called the benin punitive expedition the british wanted revenge but the mission was about more than just that there were reports of these vast treasures in the palace of the king of the name and that if they could retrieve these treasures sales from it could offset the cost of the invasion this was all well planned and so the punitive expedition in other words was also an economic enterprise the british soldiers armed with machine guns conquered the city and burned it to the ground but not before carefully taking thousands
of artifacts they piled them up neatly photographed them and even labeled them loot this photo taken at the benin palace after the raid shows soldiers with the dismantled plaques that were brought to the british museum and sold all over the world and after hundreds of years the once prosperous kingdom was gone the region fell under full british colonial control until 1960 when nigeria including the city of benin gained independence but even though they were finally free their historical artifacts were still spread all over the world locked up in western institutions like the leipzig museum of
ethnology in germany and the que brandle museum in paris and of course the british museum [Music] 1995 in london that was my first time of seeing an original uh ancient benin artwork was yes at the british museum being in the presence of these magnificent objects and knowing that i had to travel all the way from nigeria to see for the first time in these objects it was a mixture of pride in the achievement of these ancient artists and and mixed with a sense of loss at what could have been if i only had to travel
a few hundred miles but at this point you're limited to those uh privileged like me who could get a visa to travel all the way from nigeria to england um to encounter these objects most nigerians will never see them [Music] in march 2000 benin's royal family tried to change that they officially requested all cultural property illegally taken be returned to the rightful owner but for the most part the british museum has ignored any requests the museum is restricted by a government act that prevents it from returning objects but it has also made its stance clear
in july of 2020 the british museum told vox we don't restitute but we are absolutely committed to lending as widely as possible including to nigeria the museum's foundational value resides in its breadth scale complexity and unity and as such is a true library of the world chica doesn't see it that way the british museum still behaves like a colonial museum you cannot claim to be an encyclopedic collector of stolen objects but some are starting to reckon with this history in 2014 the grandson of this british soldier from the 1897 benin punitive expedition returned these two
items he had inherited to the benin royal family and in 2007 the benin dialogue group was formed western museums that hold the bronzes and nigerian government representatives have been discussing potential solutions ever since but as of today none of the bronzes have been returned but this is just one story this legacy is bigger than the bannon bronzes there are hundreds of contested items in the british museum with their own rich histories and with original owners trying to retrieve them but the problem is even bigger than the british museum it's a legacy of centuries of colonial
power that repeats itself again and again with different artifacts in different museums because these requests aren't just about items they are also about cultural and historical identity and who gets to own it this is a long term project it may last beyond my own lifetime but the point is that it's now to start that process we cannot wait any longer for a next generation to even begin the necessary task and project of cultural [Music] reconstitution [Music] you
