“Sara” Saartjie Baartman The Venus Hottentot

By Christina Schoenwandt

From Birth…

Born in (approximately) 1789 and lived until 1815

Born to the Khoikhoi Tribe of South Africa, near the Gamtoos river

She was born into a cattle-herding Gonaquasub group of the Khoikhoi

Gamtoos river

Short background of the Khoikhoi People

Stemmed from the “San” tribe (approximately) 2300 BP (Before Present), Which is now modern day Botswana.

They were the first pastoralists in southern Africa, and called themselves Khoikhoi (or Khoe), which means 'men of men' or 'the real people'.

first native people to come into contact with the Dutch settlers in the mid 17th century

As the Dutch took over land for farms, the Khoikhoi were dispossessed, exterminated, or enslaved and therefore their numbers dwindled

The Khoikhoi were called the ‘Hottentots’ by European settlers because the sound of their language was so different from any European language

Description of Women of the Khoikhoi

Have a characteristic “full” figure

Meaning large breasts, wide hips, and Elongated labia

Flat, wide, noses

Notably sculpted cheekbones

Elongated labia

Known as the “khoikhoi apron” or “hottentot apron”

labia minora, hanging up to four inches outside their vulva

This trait was first noted as far back as the 17th century, but became extensively documented in the last part of the 18th and the 19th century

considered to be part of the inferior race, being that the superior race (whites), had "normal" sized labia

Labia may also be shaped by intentional labia stretching, usually done by an aunt on girls beginning at the age of four or five

Saartjie Baartman’s youth

grew up on a colonial farm where her family most probably worked as servants

Her mother died when she was aged two and her father, who was a cattle driver, died when she reached adolescence

Took to marring a Khoikhoi man, who was a drummer

they had one child together, whom died shortly after birth

When she was sixteen years old her fiancé was murdered by Dutch colonists

Very soon after, she was sold into slavery to a trader named Pieter Willem Cezar

took her to Cape Town where she became a domestic servant to his brother

It was during this time that she was given the name ‘Saartjie’, a Dutch diminutive for Sara

Voyaging to England and Ireland

On 29 October 1810, Sara allegedly ‘signed’ a contract with an English ship surgeon named William Dunlop who was also a friend of Cezar and his brother Hendrik

Terms of the contract entitled her travel with Dunlop to England and Ireland, working as a domestic servant and be exhibited for entertainment purposes

She was to receive a ‘portion of earnings’ from her exhibitions and be allowed to return to South Africa after five years

Why is it unlikely she actually signed a contract…

#1- she was illiterate and came from a cultural tradition that did not write or keep records

#2- the Cezar families experienced financial woes and it is suspected that they used Sara to earn money

What was the fascination

Sara Baartman’s large buttocks and unusual coloring made her the object of fascination by the colonial Europeans

colonial Europeans presumed that they were racially superior and that they were viewing a lower evolution of man; closer to our ancestry to apes

Drew so much attention that She was taken to London where she was displayed in a building in Piccadilly, a street that was full of various oddities

Piccadilly street, 1800’s

Piccadilly street

Piccadilly Circus did not become official until 1819, but was a location with various venders and street side shows

various oddities like “the ne plus ultra of hideousness” and “the greatest deformity in the world”

Englishmen and women paid to see Sara’s half naked body displayed in a cage that was about a meter and half high

Her neighbors- The Sapient Pig

Toby the “Learned pig”

Captivated audiences with his promises to “spell and read, cast accounts, play at cards; tell any person what o’clock it is to a minute by their own watch” as well as “tell the age of any one in company’, and, most remarkably, ‘discover a person’s thoughts’”

“The Only Scholar of His Race.”

Her neighbors-Prince Kar-mi

Prince Kar-mi (Real Name: Joseph Hollingsworth)

he honed his show down to a fast-paced and breathtaking fifteen minutes of quick magic illusions

with several signature tricks that he invented himself, including "Selma", an illusion that involved cremating and reviving his female assistant, and "Shooting a Cracker from a Man's Head", a sharpshooting trick

also learned the art of tattooing. Between his shows, he would set up a temporary tattoo parlor, and earn extra money etching the skins of eager customers

Ending of slavery in Britain

After four years in London, in September 1814, she was transported from England to France

Hendrik Cezar sold her Reaux, a man who showcased animals

exhibited her around Paris and reaped financial benefits from the public’s fascination with Sara’s body

Her “trainer” would order her to sit or stand in a similar way that circus animals are ordered

At times Baartman was displayed almost completely naked, wearing little more than a tan loincloth

At this point she was nicknamed “Hottentot Venus”

On Display in life

On Displayed in life

Her constant display attracted the attention of George Cuvier, a naturalist

He asked Reaux if he would allow Sara to be studied as a science specimen to which Reaux agreed

As from March 1815 Sara was studied by French anatomists, zoologists and physiologists

Cuvier concluded that she was a link between animals and humans

Sara was used to help emphasize the stereotype that Africans were oversexed and a lesser race

Georges Cuvier’s Notes on Sara

She spoke native tongue, fluent Dutch, passable English, and French

Georges Cuvier described her as “intelligent woman with an excellent memory, particularly for faces” as well as her shoulders and back as "graceful", arms "slender", hands and feet as "charming" and "pretty“

She playing the “Jew's harp”

danced according to the traditions of her country, and had a lively personality

He thought her small ears were similar to those of an orangutan and also compared her vivacity, when alive, to the quickness of a monkey

Jew's harp

After Death

Sara Baartman died in 1816 at the age of 26

It is unknown whether she died from alcoholism, smallpox or pneumonia

Cuvier obtained her remains from local police and dissected her body

He made a plaster cast of her body, pickled her brain and genitals and placed them into jars

She was on display

at the Musée del'Homme(Museum of Man) until 1974

It wasn’t until the sixth of March 2002 Sara Baartman was brought back home to South Africa where she was buried

Musée del'Homme

anthropology museum in Paris, France

established in 1937 by Paul Rivet

Home to “cabinets of curiosities” and “Royal Cabinet” that aim to defines the human being