A leisure park with more than 150 years of history, the Jardin d’acclimatation in Paris owes its distinctive name to a 19th-century fascination for exotic species shipped in from across the French Empire and beyond.
The “Caribs” exhibition of 1892, Jardin d’Acclimatation in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Paris.
Between 1877 and 1931, the amusement park hosted numerous “ethnological shows” displaying Indigenous groups from colonised lands in “traditional” dress, which drew huge crowds of visitors from Paris and across Europe.
Among the “exhibits” were 33 children, teenagers and young adults from the Kalina and Arawak people of modern-day French Guiana and neighbouring Suriname.
In a rare display of unity, the upper chamber of parliament voted unanimously to return the remains of six Kalina members who died of sickness contracted during the colonial exhibition.
Among the 33 Amerindians who were exhibited at the Jardin d’acclimatation in 1892 was 12-year-old Moliko, whose great-great-grand-daughter Corinne Toka-Devilliers has spearheaded efforts to repatriate the remains of those who never made it back. She spoke of her relief and joy at hearing the names of her ancestors ring out in the Senate chamber.
Toka-Devilliers heads the association Moliko Alet+Po, which translates as “Moliko’s descendants” in the Kalina language.
