Money in Africa

Project leader: Catherine Eagleton

Department: Coins and Medals

Project start: April 2006
End date: 2012-13

Description:

This project aims to create an understanding of the role of monetary systems in the history of Africa. It plans to take an interdisciplinary approach to the subject, bringing together evidence from fields of study including numismatics, ethnography, archaeology and history. This mix of approaches will enable the research team to give a rich and informative account of the part that money can play in our understanding of African history.

From the earliest written and archaeological records up to the present day, this project will show the links within and outside Africa, and study the money-objects that have been used during Africa’s long and rich trading history. The project will consider the interface between traditional and imperial currencies as Europeans first traded with and later ruled most of the continent. It will come up-to-date and consider the legacy of colonialism and the monetary history of contemporary Africa.

Objectives:

In March 2007, the British Museum's Money in Africa conference brought together some of the most important and exciting scholars working in this field, for three days of presentations, discussions, and thinking about the possibilities for research in this area.

Images (from top):

• Steel 20 cedis coin showing a cowrie shell. African money shown on a European-style coin. Ghana, West Africa, AD 1991