HANKEY (South Africa), Aug 9: The remains of a South African woman who was paraded naked in Europe as a freak were laid to rest in a colourful ceremony on Friday, nearly 200 years after she left the African continent.

South African authorities chose the national Women’s Day holiday to bury Sarah “Saartjie” Baartman, popularly known as Hottentot Venus, on the banks of a river in the impoverished Eastern Cape province where she grew up.

About 10,000 people attended the ceremony broadcast live by the SABC television.—Reuters