Barter, Cowry, and the Culture of Exchange

After the pioneering writings of the late Marion Johnson ¹ and other economic historians of Africa, ² there seems at first sight to be very little to add to the existing knowledge of the importation, distribution, and use of cowry currencies in West Africa. It has been demonstrated that, to use Johnson’s very apt words, “West African cowry currencies…[were] in no sense a ‘primitive’ money, but a sophisticated form of currency capable of adaptation to the particular needs of West African trade.” ³ Toyin Falola and O. B. Lawuyi also contend that cowries functioned much more than a currency. They went on to examine cowries’ “symbolic and ritual role” among the Yoruba. ⁴ In addition, other scholars have shown the east-west and north-south spread of the currency in Africa, and have speculated on its diffusion from one part of the region to another.