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Thesis
Before the Gold Standard: Alternative Currencies in West Africa
University of West Florida Libraries
Master of Arts (MA), University of West Florida
2022
Abstract
Manillas and cowry shells served as alternative currencies in the trans-Atlantic trade in West Africa. Cowries are marine snails native to the Indian Ocean whose shells were brought into West Africa by trans-Saharan traders and adopted as an everyday alternative currency exchangeable for anything from food to slaves. Manillas are brass bracelets with lozenge shaped “feet” that were produced in Europe exclusively for use as currency to trade with West Africa for slaves or other trade goods. This paper examines manillas and cowries that are part of a larger assemblage from the Elmina Wreck discovered by Dr. Gregory Cook in 2003. The analysis of the Elmina Wreck assemblage of manillas and cowries will be the basis for a comparison of both terrestrial and maritime contemporary assemblages. The conclusions of the comparison were that maritime assemblages, like the Elmina Wreck, present unprecedented insight into trade but only represent a singular event.
Details
- Title
- Before the Gold Standard
- Resource Type
- Thesis
- Contributors
- Gregory Cook (Committee Chair)Amy Mitchell-Cook (Committee Member)John Worth (Committee Member)Erin Stone (Committee Member)
- Publisher
- University of West Florida Libraries
- Format
- pdf
- Number of pages
- 209
- Copyright
- © 2022 Brittaney Nicole London
- Identifiers
- 99380178697106600
- Academic Unit
- Anthropology
- Language
- English
- Awarding Institution
- University of West Florida; Master of Arts (MA)
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), University of West Florida