On Tuesday, Madagascar celebrated the repatriation of three skulls that France had held for 128 years, one of which is thought to be that of a Malagasy king who was beheaded by French soldiers in the 1800s.
In the first such repatriation since enacting legislation in 2023 to allow for the return of human remains stolen during its colonial conquests, France turned over the skulls in Paris on August 27.
The skulls are thought to belong to two of the Sakalava people’s warriors and King Toera, who was decapitated by French troops in 1897.
Members of the Sakalava group, clad in traditional robes, met them at the airport when they landed in Madagascar late Monday.
