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