West African Manilla (Copper Armlet/Bracelet Money) by JAA USA/Philippines Collection

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My feature Primitive Money for Friday April 20 is the West African Manilla of the 15th to mid-20th century.

 

Manillas are copper or bronze horseshoe shaped armlets, which served as a general purpose currency in West Africa (Guinea Coast, Gold Coast, Nigeria) from the 15th century to the mid-20th century. Manillas were used for ordinary market purchases, bride price, and as burial money. Cowry shells, valued at a small fraction of a Manilla, were used for smaller purchases.

 

Copper was the "red gold" of Africa and had been both mined and traded there since ancient times. When early European traders came to West Africa in the 15th century they found that Copper braclets and leg bands were in wide spread use as money. Picking up on this tradition several European nations including the Portuguese, Dutch, French, and British, produced Manillas for the West African trade. Manillas were also manufactured in West Africa by native blacksmiths.

 

Manillas are sometimes referred to as "Slave Trade Money" as they served as the principal money of the 16th through 18th century slave trade.

 

In the 19th and early 20th centuries Manillas co-existed as legal tender alongside British and French West African currencies. In order to encourage the use of coined money Nigeria prohibited the import of Manillas in 1902. The British undertook a major recall campaign in 1948 which resulted in the exchange of 2,460 tons of Manillas for British West African currency. Manillas ceased to be a legal tender in British West Africa on April 1, 1949. Manillas continue to be used in West Africa for ceremonial purposes such as marriages and burials.

 

I purchased the Manilla in the attached picture from a local coin dealer over fifty years ago. It measures 2.25 inches across at the widest spot and has a weight of 80 grams. This bronze piece is of later British origins, probably from the 18th to early 19th centuries.

 

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