ABSTRACT
From the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, Europe’s cabinets of natural history collected and preserved all of nature’s mineral and living resources together, and considered human beings part of their collections – not only in terms of their anatomy, but also including any of their technical and cultural achievements outside of the fine arts. While these cabinets gradually came to be called ‘natural history museums’ over the course of the eighteenth century, they continued to combine the study of nature and man. In addition to collecting and describing natural species, they also found themselves at the heart of research and collections concerning the origin of humankind, with the creation of the disciplines of archaeology and human palaeontology. At the same time, the natural history cabinets also participated in the great explorations that preceded and later accompanied European colonialism. They became enriched with a multitude of new species for scientific research and a wealth of evidence documenting the diversity of human societies. In addition to their nature-detailing collections, natural history museums preserved and promoted collections of prehistoric and ethnological artefacts for several centuries, and some even continue to do so today.
