Crown for the King of Ardra
This crown was intended as a diplomatic gift to the king of Ardra (a kingdom in West Africa) to promote trade in enslaved Africans. The nature and extent of human trafficking and slavery in West Africa changed with the arrival of the Dutch West India Company (WIC). Besides the fact that people were now being shipped to other continents, the colonial system made the status of enslaved people inheritable and linked to skin colour.