Internally, manillas were the first true general-purpose currency known in West Africa, being used for ordinary market purchases, bride price, payment of fines, compensation of diviners, and for the needs of the next world, as burial money.
What did Africans use manillas?
Manillas were traditional African horseshoe shaped bracelets made of metals such as iron, bronze, copper and very rarely gold. Decorative manillas were worn to show wealth and status in Africa. Europeans used them as a form of currency in west Africa to buy and enslave African people.
What were manillas made of?
Manillas (which were a traditional African exchange medium) were originally metal bracelets or armlets. Later forms were made of copper, bronze, or brass open rings (penannular or almost ring-like), often horse-shoe shaped with enlarged finial terminations.
Why did the Spanish use African slaves?
Many historians have concluded that Renaissance and early-modern Spain had the highest amount of African slaves in Europe. After the discovery of the New World, the Spanish colonialists decided to use it for commercial production and mining because of the absence of trading networks.
Who made manillas?
Portuguese traders produced the first Manillas, although this Okpoho Manilla was probably produced in Birmingham. They were made from Copper, then ‘RED GOLD’ and sometimes bronze.
What currency did African slaves buy?
Eventually manillas became known as slave trade money after they were used by Europeans to acquire slaves.
Which currencies did the West African use?
The Central African CFA franc is of equal value to the West African CFA franc, and is in circulation in several central African states. They are both called the CFA franc.
…
| West African CFA franc | |
|---|---|
| Demographics | |
| User(s) | Benin Burkina Faso Côte d’Ivoire Guinea-Bissau Mali Niger Senegal Togo |
| Issuance | |
What is a Manila slavery?
These manilla – named after the Portuguese or Spanish word for bangle – were a form of currency. In various regions of Africa, they had different types of currency. You would have slabs of metal like these manillas – the size of a shield – that could be used as currency.
What is a Manilla bracelet?
Manilla – a bracelet type of currency
The manilla was used as a form of currency or for bartering in West Africa. Sometimes they were worn as ornaments. My father brought this back from Nigeria in the 1960s. Apparently they were also used as slave trade money.
What year did the first African slaves enter America?
The arrival of the first captives to the Jamestown Colony, in 1619, is often seen as the beginning of slavery in America—but enslaved Africans arrived in North America as early as the 1500s.
Who started slavery in Africa?
The transatlantic slave trade began during the 15th century when Portugal, and subsequently other European kingdoms, were finally able to expand overseas and reach Africa. The Portuguese first began to kidnap people from the west coast of Africa and to take those they enslaved back to Europe.
Who brought the slaves from Africa?
It is estimated that more than half of the entire slave trade took place during the 18th century, with the British, Portuguese and French being the main carriers of nine out of ten slaves abducted in Africa.