The Wereldmuseum in Rotterdam is a museum about cultures in the present and the past. It is the continuation of the Museum of Land and Ethnology and is located on the corner of Veerhaven and Willemskade. It shows more than 1,800 ethnographic objects from different cultures in Asia (including Islamic heritage), Oceania, Africa, America. The museum is housed in the former club building of the Royal Yacht Club. The building dates from 1851 and was opened in 1852 by King William III The Yacht club received objects as a gift from Rotterdam shipowners, scientists and collectors, and exhibited them in its building. After the death in 1879 of Prince Hendrik, the chairman of the Yacht Association, the building was sold to the municipality of Rotterdam and in 1885 this resulted in the creation of a municipal museum: The Museum of Land and Ethnology, later Museum of Ethnology. The collection of art and utensils from cultures around the world grew more or less 'randomly' with objects that Dutch missionaries, sailors, soldiers and merchants took as 'trophies' from all over the world.

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