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Saartjie Baartman

 

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Saartjie Baartman


 
 


Saartjie "Sarah" Baartman was the most famous of at least two KhoikhoiKhoikhoi Overview

The Khoikhoi or Khoi, sometimes spelled KhoeKhoe, are a historical division of the Khoisan ethnic group of south...
 women who were exhibited as sideshowSideshow

In America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, carnival, fair or other such attraction....
 attractions in 19th century Europe under the name Hottentot Venus—"Hottentot" as the then-current name for the Khoi people (see further discussionKhoikhoi

The Khoikhoi or Khoi, sometimes spelled KhoeKhoe, are a historical division of the Khoisan ethnic group of south...
 of this now offensive term), and "Venus" in reference to the Venus figurinesVenus figurines

Venus figurines is an umbrella term for a number of prehistoric items, mostly in statuette form, of obese or heavily pregnan...
.
LifeAfricaSaartjie Baartman was born to a KhoisanKhoisan

Khoisan is the name for two major ethnic groups of southern Africa....
 family in the vicinity of the Gamtoos RiverGamtoos River

Gamtoos River is situated in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa and is approximately 645 km long with a catchment are...
 in what is now the Eastern CapeEastern Cape

The Eastern Cape is a province of South Africa....
 of South AfricaSouth Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of the African continent....
. She was orphaned in a commandoCommando

In military science, the term commando can refer to an individual, a military unit or a raiding style of military oper...
 raid. Saartjie, pronounced "Sahr-key", is the AfrikaansAfrikaans

Afrikaans is a Low Franconian language mainly spoken in South Africa and Namibia with smaller numbers of speakers in Botswan...
 form of her name; it translates to English as "Little Sarah", where the use of the diminutiveDiminutive

A diminutive is a formation of a word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning, smallness of the object named, int...
 form commonly indicates familiarity or endearment rather than a literally short stature.






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Timeline

1815   Died

2002   France agrees to return the remains of Saartjie Baartman to South Africa.






Encyclopedia




Saartjie "Sarah" Baartman was the most famous of at least two KhoikhoiKhoikhoi Overview

The Khoikhoi or Khoi, sometimes spelled KhoeKhoe, are a historical division of the Khoisan ethnic group of south...
 women who were exhibited as sideshowSideshow

In America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, carnival, fair or other such attraction....
 attractions in 19th century Europe under the name Hottentot Venus—"Hottentot" as the then-current name for the Khoi people (see further discussionKhoikhoi

The Khoikhoi or Khoi, sometimes spelled KhoeKhoe, are a historical division of the Khoisan ethnic group of south...
 of this now offensive term), and "Venus" in reference to the Venus figurinesVenus figurines

Venus figurines is an umbrella term for a number of prehistoric items, mostly in statuette form, of obese or heavily pregnan...
.

Life

Africa

Saartjie Baartman was born to a KhoisanKhoisan

Khoisan is the name for two major ethnic groups of southern Africa....
 family in the vicinity of the Gamtoos RiverGamtoos River

Gamtoos River is situated in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa and is approximately 645 km long with a catchment are...
 in what is now the Eastern CapeEastern Cape

The Eastern Cape is a province of South Africa....
 of South AfricaSouth Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of the African continent....
. She was orphaned in a commandoCommando

In military science, the term commando can refer to an individual, a military unit or a raiding style of military oper...
 raid. Saartjie, pronounced "Sahr-key", is the AfrikaansAfrikaans

Afrikaans is a Low Franconian language mainly spoken in South Africa and Namibia with smaller numbers of speakers in Botswan...
 form of her name; it translates to English as "Little Sarah", where the use of the diminutiveDiminutive

A diminutive is a formation of a word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning, smallness of the object named, int...
 form commonly indicates familiarity or endearment rather than a literally short stature. Her original name is unknown.

Baartman was a slave of Dutch farmers near Cape TownCape Town

Cape Town is the third most populous city in South Africa, forming part of the metropolitan municipality of the City of Cap...
 when Hendrick Cezar, the brother of her slave owner, suggested that she travel to EnglandEngland

England is the largest and most populous constituent country of the United Kingdom....
 for exhibition, promising her that she would become wealthy. Lord CaledonDu Pre Alexander, 2nd Earl of Caledon

Du Pr? Alexander, 2nd Earl of Caledon KP , styled Viscount Alexander from 1800 to 1802, was an Irish peer, landlord an...
, governor of the Cape, gave permission for the trip, but later regretted it after he gained a complete understanding of its purpose. She left for LondonLondon Summary

London is the capital city of England and of the United Kingdom....
 in 1810.

Great Britain

Saartjie was exhibited around Britain, showing what to Europeans were highly unusual bodily features. Due to her steatopygiaFacts About Steatopygia

Steatopygia is a high degree of fat accumulation in and around the buttocks....
, she had inordinately large buttocks; in addition, she had sinus pudoris, otherwise known as the tablier (the FrenchFacts About French language

French is the third-largest of the Romance languages in terms of number of native speakers, after Spanish and Portuguese, b...
 word for "apron") or "curtain of shame", all names for the elongated labiaElongated labia

Elongated labia is an apparently genetic feature of certain Khoisan groups, whose females develop relatively elongated labia...
 of some Khoisan women. (Although "sinus pudoris" refers only to the labia of Khoisan woman, all labia vary in size and shape to some degree.) To quote Stephen Jay GouldStephen Jay Gould

Stephen Jay Gould was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science....
, "The labia minora, or inner lips, of the ordinary female genitalia are greatly enlarged in Khoi-San women, and may hang down three or four inches below the vagina when women stand, thus giving the impression of a separate and enveloping curtain of skin" (Gould, 1985). Saartjie never allowed this trait to be exhibited while she was alive.

Her exhibition in London, scant years after the passing of the Slave Trade Act 1807, created a scandal. An abolitionAbolition

Abolition is the act of formally repealing an existing practice through legal means, either by making it illegal, or simply ...
ist benevolent society called the African Association, the equivalent of a charity or pressure group, petitioned for her release. Baartman was questioned before a court in DutchDutch language

Dutch is a West Germanic language spoken by around 22 million people, mainly in the Netherlands and Belgium . ...
, in which she was fluent, and stated that she was not under restraint and understood perfectly that she was guaranteed half of the profits. The conditions under which she made these statements are suspect, because it directly contradicts accounts of her exhibitions made by Zachary Macaulay of the African Institution and other eyewitnesses.

Legacy


There were sporadic calls for the return of her remains beginning in the 1940s but the case became prominent only after U.S. biologist Stephen Jay GouldStephen Jay Gould

Stephen Jay Gould was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science....
 published an account, The Hottentot Venus, in the 1980s. When Nelson MandelaNelson Mandela Overview

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela OM, CC, AC, QC was the first President of South Africa to be elected in fully-representative dem...
 became president of South AfricaSouth Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of the African continent....
 in 1994, he formally requested that FranceFrance

France, officially the French Republic, is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in Western Europe and whi...
 return the remains. After much legal wrangling and debates in the French National AssemblyFrench National Assembly

The French National Assembly is one of the two houses of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic....
, France acceded to the request on 6 March 2002. Her remains were repatriated to her homeland, the Gamtoos Valley, on 6 May 2002, over 200 years after her birth.

Baartman became an icon in South Africa as representative of many aspects of the nation's history. The Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children, a refuge for survivors of domestic violenceDomestic violence Overview

Domestic violence occurs when a family member, partner or ex-partner attempts to physically or psychologically dominate or h...
, opened in Cape TownCape Town Summary

Cape Town is the third most populous city in South Africa, forming part of the metropolitan municipality of the City of Cap...
 in 1999. South Africa's first offshore environmental protection vessel is named after Sarah Baartman.

See also

  • Human zooHuman zoo

    Human zoos were 19th and 20th century public exhibits of human beings usually in their "natural" or "primitive" state....
  • RacismRacism Summary

    Racism is a belief in the moral or biological superiority of one race or ethnic group over another or others....


External links