Stages in civilisation

This study is the first extensive enquiry into the collecting of Africana by late ninenteenth century Dutch museums. These collecting campaigns took place during the last days of the great African explorations. These travellers had outspoken ideas about African morals and customs and about the meaning and significance of artefacts. The author of this study argues that the acquisition history of Africana in Dutch museums corresponds directly with the ideas of the great explorers and with the dominant evolutionary theories that were current in the Western world. These stipulated that people could be placed in a hierarchy of races and sub-races. Within this context, the author compares the late nineteenth century Dutch collections in the museums in Leiden, Amsterdam and Rotterdam to similar collections abroad.