COWRIE SHELLS, A MALDIVIAN CURRENCY

cowrie Shell painting

Money had very different appearances in the Maldives and the first currency used was cowry shells (cypraea moneta).

Cowry shell also known as Monetaria Moneta

Cowrie shells were also the most popular currency in Africa. Egyptians considered them to be magical and used them as money in foreign exchange transactions. Egyptologists have found millions of cowry shells in the tombs of the Pharaohs.

In the 13^th century, cowry shells were brought to Africa from the Maldives by Arab merchants. But the cowry was also accepted in large parts of Asia, Oceania and in some scattered places in Europe.

Arab merchant trading Cowrie Shells

Cowry shell collecting and dealing became a real industry in the Maldives. Maldivian Men and women were involved in this business, everybody with different tasks.

Women pleated mats of coconuts leaves. These mat were put on the water surface, little molluscs attracted covered the floating coconut leaves mats  . Before they could be harvested, cowry shell needed to be completely dried out. Mats were removed from the water and left under the sun, on the beaches to dry. Once dried out the shells were ready be used as currency.

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Live Monetaria Moneta with mantle visible

Cowry shells are small and easy to transport. Their charming forms and shapes offer them a perfect protection against forgery. Furthermore, counting was not always necessary. As the shells almost all had the same shape and dimension weighing was enough to find out the value of a payment.

Stringed Cowrie shell

The main part of this Maldives production was shipped by Dhoni by local seamen to the main distribution centre of Bengal. Cowry shells were packed or stringed to large units. In the Bengal region large payments were made in baskets full of cowries, each basket containing about 12.000 shells. Because of it’s strange shape, the shell was also considered as a fertility symbol.

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Shell (Triton shell) appears on the 2 Rufiyaa coins

What was the value of the cowry shell? In areas far away from Maldives or trade centres such as Bengal region, a few cowries would buy a cow, while in the Maldives a few hundred thousand equalled a gold dinar.

Coral stone box filled with Cowrie shells, recovered in a grave at Fuvhamulah atoll . Date and significance remains unknown .

European trade in cowry shells started in the 15^th and 16^th centuries with the Portuguese .

During the 17^th and 18^th centuries the trade was dominated by the Dutch and the English

LEARN MORE : OCEAN EXPLORERS AND THEIR TALES ABOUT MALDIVES – 1/ Francois Pyrard de Laval

In 18^th and 19^th centuries the French and Germans also got involved in the shipping of cowries to Africa.

Distribution map of Cowrie Shells

These western European nations brought cowry shells from Indian Ocean and more specifically from Maldives in such a large quantity to Africa subsequently ruining all local monetary systems and

Economies.  By the mid-18th century coins made of copper replaced the use of cowries and made the shells of little or no value.

cowrie shells – Unfortunately not enough to purchase a week holidays in Maldives

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