Cowrie shells and cowrie money : a global history / Bin Yang.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Yang, Bin, 1972- author.

Series:

Routledge approaches to history ; 25.

Routledge approaches to history ; 25

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Shell money.

Cowries.

Money--History.

Money.

History.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xiv, 292 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2019.

Summary:

"Originating in the sea, especially in the waters surrounding the low-lying islands of the Maldives, Cypraea moneta (sometimes confused with Cypraea annulus) was transported to various parts of Afro-Eurasia in the prehistoric era, and in many cases, it was gradually transformed into a form of money in various societies for a long span of time. Yang provides a global examination of cowrie money within and beyond Afro-Eurasia from the archaeological period to the early twentieth century. By focusing on cowrie money in Indian, Chinese, Southeast Asian, and West African societies and shell money in Pacific and North American societies, Yang synthsises and illustrates the economic and cultural connections, networks and interactions over a longue durée and in a cross-regional context, analysing locally varied experiences of cowrie money from a global perspective, arguing that cowrie money was the first global money that shaped Afro-Eurasian societies both individually and collectively, proposing a paradigm of the cowrie world and thus engaging many local, regional, transregional and global themes"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Global phenomenon, local varieties

The Maldives: procurement and export

India: in the beginning

Southeast Asia: intra-Asian interactions

Yunnan: an Indian influence in the Southeast Asian-Chinese world

Why not in early China?

Cowrie money in West Africa: connecting the worlds, old and new

The Pacific Islands and North America: out of the Bengali system

More than just money

The cowrie money world.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Electronic version: Yang, Bin, 1972- Cowrie shells and cowrie money.

ISBN:

9781138593213

1138593214

OCLC:

1054260549