The history of the institution dates back in 1910 when a Museum was established in Nairobi by the then East Africa and Uganda Natural History Society [currently the East African Natural History Society (EANHS)]. The group consisted mainly of colonial settlers and naturalists who needed a place to keep and preserve their collections of various specimens. Its first site was at the present: 'Nyayo House'.

The Tiskiwin Museum was founded by Bert Flint, who was born in 1931 in the Netherlands where he studied Spanish language and literature at the University of Utrecht. This Museum is one of the oldest in Marrakech. It focuses on the History and Culture of the Amazigh and Tuareg people, indigenous nomadic groups in North Africa. It holds a collection of objects acquired by the founder of the museum, Dutch anthropologist Bert Flint. He collected these cultural items during decades of North African expeditions.