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Shell money has appeared in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Australia. The shell most widely used worldwide as currency was the shell of Cypraea moneta , the money cowry . This species is most abundant in the Indian Ocean , and was collected in the Maldive Islands , in Sri Lanka , along the Malabar coast, in Borneo and on other East Indian ...
The cowrie was the shell most widely used worldwide as shell money. It is most abundant in the Indian Ocean, and was collected in the Maldive Islands, in Sri Lanka, along the Indian Malabar coast, in Borneo and on other East Indian islands, in Maluku in the Pacific, and in various parts of the African coast from Ras Hafun to Mozambique.
Monetaria moneta, common name the money cowrie, is a species of small sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries. [1]This species is called "money cowrie" because the shells were historically widely used in many Pacific and Indian Ocean countries as shell money before coinage was in common usage.
Cowry shells were first used in India as commodity money. [5] The Indus Valley Civilisation may have used metals of fixed weights such as silver for trade activities which is evident from the DK area of Mohenjo Daro from the late Harappan period (dated 1900–1800 BC or 1750 BC).
Wampum article, Iroquois Indian Museum; Wampum History and Background "The Tribes And The States: 100,000-Year History of North America" X-ray showing inner spiral and entire shell of the Busycotypus Canaliculatus – Channeled Whelk Shell, Europa "Money Substitutes in New Netherland and Early New York", Coins, University of North Dakota
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This form of currency was used in the Persian Gulf, India, Ceylon and the Far East during this time. Historians agree that this new form of currency was most probably exchanged for cowry shells and indicates Maldives' lucrative trade with these countries.
In parts of Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Monetaria annulus, the ring cowry, so-called because of the bright orange-colored ring on the back or upper side of the shell, was commonly used as shell money much like Monetaria moneta. Occasionally the ring part on its back would be hammered away, making it nearly indistinguishable from other ...