Collection
Elephant Tusk
Trade, Power, and a Costly Cargo
This elephant tusk was part of a global trade network driven by European demand for ivory. It was received at the Cape of Good Hope from the Dutch East India Company (VOC) trading post at Rio de Lagoa, now Maputo Bay, Mozambique.
From there, tusks like this were loaded onto VOC ships bound for Batavia (modern Jakarta), to be carved, sold, or traded across Asia.
Ivory was prized in Europe and Asia, but its journey from Africa came at great cost, to the animals hunted, the people exploited, and the ecosystems disrupted. This tusk tells a story not only of trade, but of the deeper impacts of empire.
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