One West African Manilla Bronze Trade Bracelet -
Item History & Price
SEPTEMBER 12, 2018 / S&C ETC.Used in West Africa, Manillas were a form of money, usually made of bronze or copper. African Slave Trade Manila Ring. Also known as African bracelet money. These copper/bronze rings where produced for the purchasing of slaves on the Ivory Coast from the mid 15th century to the 19th century.
Originating before the colonial period, perhaps as the result of trade with the Portuguese Empire, Manillas continued to serve as money and decora...tive objects until the late 1940s and are still used as decorative objects in some contexts.The name manilla derives from the Spanish word for ‘bracelet’ manella, the Portuguese for ‘hand-ring’ manilha, or after the Latin manus (hand) or from monilia, plural of ‘monile (necklace). The earliest use of manillas was in West Africa, as a means of exchange they originated in Calabar. Calabar was the chief city of the ancient southeast Nigerian coastal kingdom of that name. It was here in 1505 that a slave could be bought for 8–10 manillas, and an elephant’s tooth for one copper manila. They were also in use on the Benin river in 1589 and again in Calabar in 1688, where Dutch traders bought slaves against payment in rough grey copper armlets which had to be very well made or they would be quickly rejected.
Originating before the colonial period, perhaps as the result of trade with the Portuguese Empire, Manillas continued to serve as money and decora...tive objects until the late 1940s and are still used as decorative objects in some contexts.The name manilla derives from the Spanish word for ‘bracelet’ manella, the Portuguese for ‘hand-ring’ manilha, or after the Latin manus (hand) or from monilia, plural of ‘monile (necklace). The earliest use of manillas was in West Africa, as a means of exchange they originated in Calabar. Calabar was the chief city of the ancient southeast Nigerian coastal kingdom of that name. It was here in 1505 that a slave could be bought for 8–10 manillas, and an elephant’s tooth for one copper manila. They were also in use on the Benin river in 1589 and again in Calabar in 1688, where Dutch traders bought slaves against payment in rough grey copper armlets which had to be very well made or they would be quickly rejected.
