Central Africa
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Glasgow Museums has a collection of 447 objects from Central Africa, which date from 1876 to 1991. This collection comprises a broad range of cultural artefacts. It includes ceremonial masks, carvings, weapons, domestic items, body ornaments, costume, textiles, weaving implements and ceramic, wooden and basketwork containers. There are also fishing and hunting implements, furniture, furnishings, musical instruments, ritual objects, contemporary art, and wooden, stone and metal carvings. The largest group of objects in the collection, culturally affiliated to the BaKuba, Lulua, Nsapo and BaLuba peoples, comes from William B Scott, an engineer on the American Presbyterian Mission steamer the SS Lapsley II. A further 82 objects were collected by Scotland’s most famous missionary to Africa, David Livingstone. British commercial activity in the region is also represented by 30 objects purchased in 1907 from Dr Joseph Moloney, a medical officer with William Stairs’ ill-fated expedition to Katanga in 1890. Central Africa is generally considered to comprise 9 countries including Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and São Tomé and Príncipe. The region has been explored and colonized by Europeans since the 16th century. It is Glasgow’s missionary and commercial involvement within the region that defines Glasgow Museums’ Central Africa collection.
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