Exhibition: Tromelin, l’île aux esclaves oubliés at Paris Musée de l’Homme

As part of the En Droits! season designed for the 70^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Tromelin, l’île des esclaves oubliés exhibition comes to Paris Musée de l’Homme from February 13 to June 3, 2019.

Have you heard about Tromelin? In 1761, 80 Madagascar survivors are left behind after washing ashore a very tiny island in the Indian ocean. Fifteen years later, the Chevalier de Tromelin saves eight survivors: seven women and one child.

The Tromelin, l’île des esclaves oubliés exhibition tells us about this unknown page of sea history and especially the moving testimony of slavery thanks to the scientific work carried out by archeologists who carried out excavations on the island and in the sea.

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The historical part of the exhibition focuses on the slave trade and sailing in the Indian ocean in the 18^th century, crossed stories between Madagascar inhabitants and French people until the shipwreck of the Utile in Tromelin. The archeological part focuses on the survival, the life and death of the castaways on the island, about their diet, their crafts, their social organization until their rescue. Finally, the memorial part of the exhibition revolves around the resonance of the event on minds about slavery.

Because it’s always important to recall the 4^th article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade 04 shall be prohibited in all their forms” and it’s still valid today.