Brass manilla (bracelet)
Europe, probably 19th century
AD
Copper bracelets were used to make payments in
West Africa before the arrival of European traders. The word
'manilla' comes from the Portuguese word for
bracelet. When the Portuguese arrived in Benin, Nigeria, in the
fifteenth century, they quickly started trading brass and copper
for pepper, cloth, ivory and slaves. In the 1490s a Portuguese
trader wrote that at Benin copper bracelets were more highly prized
than brass ones.
The number
of manillas in circulation increased dramatically from the
sixteenth century when they became one of the standard trade
currencies. Millions were made in Europe, along with brass and
copper pots and pans, and imported into Africa for trade. Research
by British Museum scientists has shown that objects like these were
melted down and made into works of art such as the Benin bronze
plaques.
J. Williams (ed.), Money: a history (London, The British Museum Press, 1997)