Table of Contents

Maps; Tables and chart; Preface; Introduction; 1. The cowrie; 2. The Maldive Islands; 3. The Portuguese domination; 4. The Dutch and English enter the trade (seventeenth century); 5. Prosperity for the cowrie commerce (eighteenth century); 6. Boom and slump for the cowrie trade (nineteenth century); 7. Collection, transport and distribution; 8. Cowries in Africa; 9. The cowrie as money: transport costs, values and inflation; 10. The last of the cowrie; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Promotional Information

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