CURRENCIES IN PRE - COLONIAL PERIOD

CURRENCIES IN ANCIENT AFRICA

Currency has played a central role in man economics history for a period That dated back to ancient time. It is important for while to take look At the situation of currency as a means of exchange; currency has evolved from very rudimentary (not fully develop) object since ancient time and Africa has always been part of the history. According to some anthropologist, currency in Africa could be seen without reasonable doubt to have been well developed. This is because the people of Africa saw that it was difficult to have an effective and efficient distribution system without currency. It was sort of growth in the economics system in the pre-colonial period that gave birth to currency from barter. During the pre-colonial economy in Africa, barter was the only means of exchange in the pre-colonial period. Barter is a means of exchange of goods for goods. However, barter as system was not dominant as some anthropologists would assume, but some assumed that trade by barter pre-dominated the economy of Africa; that production for the needs of people was subsistence. type of currencies used in ancient Africa : cowrie, Slaves,  commodity currency (examples of commodities that have been used as mediums of exchange include gold, silver, copper, salt, peppercorns, large stones, decorated belts, cowries shells,  cigarettes, cannabis, candy, barley etc. These items were sometimes used in a metric of perceived value in conjunction to one another, in various commodity valuation or price system economies. 

Currency in West Africa could be seen without reasonable doubt to be well developed because trade was multilateral in nature.  Collins discovery encyclopedia:  see currency as a metal or paper medium of exchange that is in current use in a particular country or the local medium of exchange especially in the colonies.  Collins English dictionary defined currency as a general acceptance or circulation.  So, currency is any thing that is considered as valuable for the exchange of goods and services, and a means of calculation. Though trade predates currency, both had complemented each other as Economic forces in man's history.  In Africa like in other ancient societies, the earliest form of was trade by barter.  A major type of this barter in Africa  was what J. D. Fage calls ‘silent trade or dumb. According to Fage, this trade existed between Ghanaian merchants and their southern neighbors. In spite of the predominance of barter in ancient Africa, the Egyptians for example, used metal ring as money some 2500 BC. The trend in the use of currency continued alongside barter to the eve of colonialism. At the beginning of colonialism, barter had evolved to a higher stage which was called commodity currency.  This involved items which because of their quality, enjoyed special advantages as stores of value, media of exchange or units of account.  They included valuable commodities were bought and sold in major trading centers such as west Africa  and central Sudan, the Guinea Coast and the Swahili coast.