DownloadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2024

The Shell Money of the Slave Trade

Marion Johnson author Jan Hogendorn author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:18th Sep '03

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

The Shell Money of the Slave Trade cover

A study of the role of cowrie-shell money in West African trade, particularly the slave trade.

This study examines the role of cowrie-shell money in West African trade, particularly the slave trade. Over a large part of West Africa they became the regular market currency, but then disappeared almost totally, except during the depression of the 1930s, and occasionally in the markets of remote frontier districts.This study examines the role of cowrie-shell money in West African trade, particularly the slave trade. The shells were carried from the Maldives to the Mediterranean by Arab traders for further transport across the Sahara, and to Europe by competing Portuguese, Dutch, English and French traders for onward transport to the West African coast. In Africa they served to purchase the slaves exported to the New World, as well as other less sinister exports. Over a large part of West Africa they became the regular market currency, but were severely devalued by the importation of thousands of tons of the cheaper Zanzibar cowries. Colonial governments disliked cowries because of the inflation and encouraged their replacement by low-value coins. They disappeared almost totally, to re-appear during the depression of the 1930s, and have been found occasionally in the markets of remote frontier districts, avoiding exchange and currency control problems.

ISBN: 9780521541107

Dimensions: 229mm x 153mm x 17mm

Weight: 390g

248 pages