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WonderMoney history fact

Cowrie shells, the glossy shells of small sea snails, served as money in parts of Africa, Asia and the Pacific for centuries, because they were durable, easy to count and carry, and hard to fake.

Cowrie shell money

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The story behind the card

Cowries were used in China during the Shang dynasty, more than 3,000 years ago, and the Chinese sign for 'shell' still appears inside many characters to do with money, such as those for 'goods' and 'buy'. Most of the cowries used in Asia and Africa came from the Maldive Islands. The traveller Ibn Battuta saw them used as currency in the Mali Empire in the 1350s, and from the sixteenth century European ships carried them to West Africa by the ton, often as ballast. There they paid for everyday goods and taxes, and they were also used to buy enslaved people in the Atlantic slave trade. As imports soared their value fell, and colonial currencies replaced them around 1900.

Türkçe oku
Kauri denen küçük deniz salyangozlarının parlak kabukları, dayanıklı, sayması ve taşıması kolay, taklidi zor oldukları için Afrika, Asya ve Pasifik'in bazı bölgelerinde yüzyıllarca para olarak kullanıldı.

Kauriler Çin'de 3.000 yılı aşkın bir süre önce, Şang Hanedanı döneminde kullanılıyordu; Çincede “kabuk” anlamına gelen işaret bugün hâlâ “mal” ve “satın almak” gibi parayla ilgili birçok karakterin içinde yer alır. Asya'da ve Afrika'da kullanılan kaurilerin çoğu Maldiv Adaları'ndan geliyordu. Gezgin İbn Battuta, 1350'lerde Mali İmparatorluğu'nda bu kabukların para olarak kullanıldığını gördü. 16. yüzyıldan itibaren Avrupa gemileri kaurileri, çoğu zaman safra olarak, tonlarca Batı Afrika'ya taşıdı. Orada gündelik alışverişte ve vergilerde kullanıldılar; Atlantik köle ticaretinde köleleştirilen insanların bedeli de bu kabuklarla ödendi. İthalat arttıkça değerleri düştü ve 1900 dolaylarında yerlerini sömürge paraları aldı.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Shell money
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