About how cowrie shells served as money and objects of wealth across parts of Asia, Africa, and the Pacific.
One shell used as money in several historical settings was Cypraea moneta, commonly known as the money cowrie. “Kauri” is a common name for a tree, so “cowrie shell” is the clearer term here.
Cowries were used as money and as objects of wealth across parts of Asia, Africa, and the Pacific for long periods. They were not one uniform system of official legal tender, and the dates and local exchange rules varied considerably.
Why Cowries Were Useful in Exchange
Cowrie shells were small, durable, and recognisable, qualities that made them useful in some local systems of exchange:
- Durability: Their hard shells could be carried and counted over long periods.
- Recognisability: Their distinctive form made them easy to identify in a local market.
- Portability: Large numbers could be gathered, sorted, and transported.
From West Africa to Imperial China
In Shang and Zhou Dynasty China, cowrie shells were so deeply embedded in monetary culture that the Chinese written character for "money", "buy", "sell", and "wealth" (貝 - bèi) was originally a pictogram of a cowrie shell.
In West Africa, including the Kingdom of Dahomey and the Ashanti Empire, cowrie shells could be gathered and counted for taxes, livestock, and long-distance trade.
Changing Exchange Values
In parts of West Africa, imported cowries increased supply and weakened existing exchange values during the colonial period. That was one factor in the shift toward colonial coin and paper currencies; it was not a single region-wide collapse that made every cowrie worthless at once.