The Cowrie
It is called the kabttaj (Maldives), kauri (Bengal), kaudi (Hindi), kaoli (Chinese), kavari
(Martha) and cowrie (English) and is believed the have been the first universal money. It
has lasted longer than any other in human history so far! So, what is a cowrie? Answer, a
shell!
Why a shell? The answer is simple really. It is portable, durable, divisible, easily
recognized and hard to counterfeit. It also possesses additional features that make it
valuable; it can be used as a decoration, charm, divination, and in games (a pawn in
chess).
Cowrie Shells
(note the dime in the top right corner to give you a size comparison)
Prior to being globally distributed on a large scale, it was a scare and valuable item.
Imitations of this shell have been made of wood, stone, jade, other semi-precious stones,
bone, bronze and even silver and gold. Marco Polo told of the cowrie shell being used as
currency in many regions across Eurasia. Ma Huan, an official who accompanied Zheng
He, told of how they were caught in nets, dried in the sun allowing the inner flesh to rot,
piled into heaps and then transported across the Indian Ocean.
There are over 250 species of cowrie shells but only one in particular, (Cypraea moneta)
is native to the Maldive Islands. Ironically, the people of the Maldives do not appear to
have used the cowrie shell as their currency, they used silver for money. Once the shells
had been harvested, dried, and prepared for shipping they were sent to Bengal by local
vessels or contractors from Bengal or Siam who exclusively dealt in this cargo.
Area showing Maldive Islands in the Indian Ocean
The cowrie shell in India
Cowrie shells have been found in many archeological sites throughout the prehistoric
Indus River valley. As previously mentioned, the main import region for these shells was
Bengal and records of the shells being used as currency date back to the Mauryan times.
The shells served as “small money” while silver functioned as “big money.” Similar
records also indicated that gold was the monetary exchange for other large transactions.
Cowries were used as money in northern India, including present-day Afghanistan and
Pakistan, Orissa, Bengal and Kashmir.
The cowrie shell in China
The use of the cowrie shell begins in far western inland regions of China also during the
Neolithic Era. Due to its scarcity, imitations of the shell have been found made from jade,
stone, bone, earthenware, gold, tin, and bronze in many archaeological sites.
The cowrie shell was significant in Shang Empires (7th century B.C.E. to 11th century
B.C.E.); evidence being found of their use was written on oracle bones. Of particular note
is the finding in a tomb at the Yan site of Anyang, in Henan (Mid Yellow River region).
It was the tomb of Lady Hao in lived in the early 12th century B.C.E. Her grave was
found in 1975 and consisted of 468 bronze pieces, 755 jade items, 47 precious stones, 63
stone artifacts plus 6,800 cowries, many stored in bronze containers.
Other finds have been made in regions surrounded by the Upper Yangtze, Middle
Yangtze, and Gan Rivers. It is not really certain if the cowrie shell was used as money in
China, but it has been proved that they were kept as items of significant value.
The Shang also created bronze coins similar to cowrie shells – “bronze cowries” or
tongbei as they became known and imitated the real cowries in size and shape.
During the Zhou Age (11th Century B.C.E. to 222 B.C.E.), the cowrie continued as a
symbol of power, value and social prestige. Records have been found indicating that
thousands were given as gifts. Many have also been found in tombs from this era,
suggesting their high value and cultural implications. They were found put into the
mouths of the dead! Cowries were also found in the graves of common people, indicating
a social change from their use by the wealthy to the masses. Additionally, records
indicated that 250 cowries could buy a pointed basket of rice during the Zhou dynasty.
When the Qin Dynasty arrived in 221 B.C.E. their unification of China standardized
metal money, and the bronze cowries were stripped of their monetary function. Qin
coinage (qin banliang) was then circulated across China instead of the cowrie shell.
The cowrie shell in Southeast Asia
The arrival of the shells to this region came by both overland and marine routes. Many
primary documents indicate that the cowrie shell was the medium of trade in Assam,
Arakan, Lower Burma, Thailand, Siam, Vietnam, Laos, and Yunnan (between Tibet and
China).
Tomè Pires, the first Portuguese ambassador to China in 1511 noted that cowries also
came from islands of Bagangã and Borneo, brought to Malacca and then to Pegu (lower
Burma) by traders and merchants.
In this region, there is no doubt that the cowrie shell was “common currency” as Pires
noted that four or five hundred cowries could buy you a chicken or a similar item. In
Northern Thailand, King Mengrai (1259-1317) stipulated cowries had to be used to pay
fines or compensations in lieu of silver coins. He even created an exchange rate where
1,100 cowries = 1 piece of silver. The cowrie continued to be a form of exchange in
Thailand until the latter part of the 19th century.
The Silk Road Trade Routes (Land and Sea) were used as transport for the cowrie shell
The cowrie shell in the Middle East
Trade in cowrie shells was dominated by Arab traders who made great profits from
buying and selling cowries. In the Maldives they could buy 1 million for 1 gold dinar.
When they reached Nigeria they would resell at an exchange rate of 1000 for a gold
dinar. The cowrie shell was the primary currency in the East African slave trade.
Originally, one woman in Uganda cost 2 cowries but as traders made shells more
accessible, the price for buying one woman rose to 10,000 cowries. Throughout the Arab
speaking regions, the cowrie was a fully acceptable medium of exchange and currency. In
the 13th and 14th centuries the Turks began to mint Islamic-style silver coins but cowries
were still the preferred secondary currency.
Arab merchants trading with cowrie shells
The cowrie shell in Africa
Arab traders brought the cowrie shell to the Mali and Songhai Empires. However, the
shell used in Africa was not the shell found around the Maldive Island. Instead, the Arabs
used the Cypraea annulus or the “ring cowrie.” This shell became widely used because it
is found off the coast of Zanzibar and was easily harvested by local laborers who worked
for the Arabs. Unfortunately, the addition of vast supplies of the ring cowrie on to the
world market caused severe inflation across Africa.
As well as being used in West Africa, Arab traders took cowrie shells from Zanzibar to
Sudan and Ethiopia where they also were used as domestic currency.
The cowrie shell and their use by Western Europeans
Trade in cowries began in the 15th and 16th centuries, mainly by the Portuguese. During
the 17th and 18th centuries the trade was dominated by the Dutch and then by the English.
By the 18th and 19th centuries the French and Germans also became involved in the
transportation of cowries to Africa.
The Dutch dominated the cowrie trade until 1750, and then the British became the prime
carrier until 1807 (at the end of their slave trading in West Africa). Between both
countries, from 1700 until 1790, they shipped over 11,436 metric tons of shells to West
Africa which is equal to 10 billion individual shells. The shells were used to buy slaves
for transport to the colonies in the New World.
These Western European nations that brought cowries from the Indian Ocean to West
Africa in such large quantities subsequently ruined all local monetary systems and
economies. Once the Slave Trade ended, there was a decline in the cowrie trade.
However, when palm oil became a demanded commodity for the Industrial Age, trade in
cowrie shells was eagerly revived. By the mid-18th century coins made of copper had
either replaced the use of cowries or made the shells of little or no value.
Conclusion
There are three interesting points/issues to consider in addition to the above information
regarding the use of cowrie shells.
1. There is a major similarity to the use of cowrie shells within the African Trade
Routes for the buying and selling of slaves to the Arab and New World and the
Silver Trade and the sale of opium used to “Open” China. They were both
dominated by Western European nations!
2. Today, cowries are still used as currency in Ethiopia and other remote corners of
Africa.
3. Cowries have been found in mounds and early burial sites among the Ojibwa and
the Menomini tribes (west of the Great Lakes) in North America. They were
known to be part of initiation ceremonies but there has been no evidence of their
monetary use within North America. How these shells arrived on the continent is
surely an area for future research into the use of cowrie shells by a global society.
Sources:
Yang, Bin, The Rise and Fall of Cowrie Shells: The Asian Story. Journal of World
History, Vol. 22, No. 1, March 2011.
Narbeth, Colin, The cowry shell as money.
http://www.conchsoc.org/pages/MW_6_p19-21a.pdf
Pictures:
1. Cowrie Shells from http://www.ioffer.com/i/174108809
2. Maldives Map from http://www.jandvwilliams.com/Maldives_information.htm
3. Silk Road map from: http://www.123nonstop.com/picturesMaritimeSilkRoad.htm
4. Arab traders from: http://www.shiftoftheage.ccom