The Evolution of Money In Africa

 

Have you ever wondered how money came about in Africa?, the history of money back in the years. How do we manage the medium of exchange before civilization and the advent of technology?. Money is simply defined as anything generally acceptable as a medium of exchange. This article explains the gradual directional means of exchange in Africa.

Early currencies: These are items used before polished currencies as means of exchange. This includes farm produce and livestock such as cattle, goats, sheep and so on. Beads were also used as currency, they have a history rooted in antiquities in Nigeria from the NOK culture. Kano and Bida then, Vere in Adamawa state were famous respectively for glass and brass beads as means of exchange until they were supplanted by the massive importation of trade beads. Hoe blade currencies[Nhuhar] used widely used by Tiv, Kanua, Benue Nigeria. Bark clothes were used by the Ugandas, Tobacco ropes are exchanged for bride price.

Ibn Battatu  a Muslim traveller from Morocco, discovered the use of bars of salt as a method of trade. At Walata a load of salt equals an ounce of gold. Pure salts were mined to slabs and cut into standardized sizes, and the exact measurement enables precise measurements. This trade system works on double principle, you trade what you have for what you desire. This exchange should satisfy both parties involved offering precise and equal value. This means of exchange has limitations as you might not get someone who has what you need at proximity and it is sometimes difficult to measure the true value of goods.This result to conflict among both parties.

Cowries: The most common species of cowries are from the Maldvian island in the indian ocean. These cowries shells are used popularly among the people in Kuda kingdom now know as Democratic Republic of Congo. Benin Kingdom in Africa also used cowries especially as dowries.

Metal money era: these includes hot plates, and mannila made of bronze or copper and it is depicted on the CBN’s [Central Bank of Nigeria] logo, it is commonly used among the west Africans. The use of mannilas evolved into the use of coins.

 Coins: The ancient kingdom of Aksum in the modern region of Ethiopia were one of the first to mint their coins using copper. First of January In 1917, the British bank notes in Nigeria changed to coins (Kobo) 50 Kobo, 25 Kobo, 1kobo. Considering these coins made of sliver, gold or copper and the weight. It was not really convienient carrying about.

Paper Money: This is now widely in use though few countries still uses coins. Due to its very light weight and portability, it is most preferred and measure of value was solved as it ranges with numbers. In Nigeria one Naira, five Naira, and ten Naira were first introduced, now we use twenty, fifty, one hundred, two hundred, and so on the highest denomination still remains one thousand Naira.

Somali, Ugandan and Tanzania uses shillings, Ethiopia is birr, Guinea adopts Franc and so on. Only a few countries produces their paper currencies importing little supplement they include Nigeria, Morocco and Kenya. 

African is really gifted with creativity, even with little resources available. Their innate tenacity and resilience enables them to improvise and make judicious use of the limited resources, to life a comfortable life.

The evolution of African currencies began as Africans gradually emerge a community in their respective territories. As the need for the exchange of goods or services arises. for instance; a seamstress with clothes who exchange his clothes for a farmer's livestock as a meat; a laborer who renders his labor for a quota of wealth. A good example was how Chinua Achebe rightly sighted in his epic novel: Things Fall Apart, where Okonkwo, the protagonist, had to plants another man's yam seeds to in order to earn for himself more enough seeds to establish his wealth through planting yam seed from a friend and receive a good return at the time of harvest. However, as African began to established contact with themselves  and other continent( intercontinental trade), there is a pressing needs for Africans to go beyond exchange commodities to a well recognized and established currencies that can be generally accepted with ranked value. and not like the pre-colonial minted coins derived from copper and metals, perforated in between for easy counting and without recognized value. Hence, in discussing these we are going through the four(4) stages of Africa currencies as classified by Jane. I. and Karin Pallaver in their work " Money and currency in Africa history", which include : the precolonial era, .colonial era, the post colonial era, and the current 21st century stage. 

 The definition of  Money can be derived from the four major functions of money such as: a medium of exchange, a store of wealth, a unit of account and a means of payment. That is for anything to be define as money, it must be exchangeable with other product or services, and can also  be owned as an assets and at same time used as a form of payment of taxes, bride price, bills, etc. The Africa currencies has underwent these series of status through its different stages from its primitive form(the pre colonial stage) which is precedes after by the colonial, and the colonial is followed by the post colonial following  later is the 21st century currencies status, which is accompanied with a continuous growth in  both is shapes and values of the African currencies.

 The first stage is type of evolution the African currencies experiences is the pre-colonial stage. As Jane and Karin describes, is the period where the Africa trades is popularly in form of the barter system(Trade by barter). Here the transaction are made through what I regard as "exchange commodities." Because, financial transaction are always based on exchange of goods of which some were acquired or locally made and some were imported as a result their contact with neighboring countries and intercontinental trades. Example of commonly exchange commodities includes:

Cowries

 although, it is not an indigenous based monetary currency as it was imported in to Africa( it is originated from Indian ocean) during the African contact with the Mediterranean world, where it was transported in through the west Africa from Maldives Island. Because, it is not easy to generate a counterfeit. owning to its successive responds of the cowries in many African states. It was first popular among the west Africa countries and also in the upper and middle Nigeria. It was also used in Mali Empire and later Timbuktu, Jene, Bambara city(16th century). Cowries later served as "shell money a slave trade money."

livestock

as popularly regarded as the only walking currencies of man as explained by Jane and Karin who assert that unlike other medium of exchange, the cattle is only the living and walking asset used in the early Africa for exchange of goods and payment of both bride price and payment of taxes.

minted metal

 of all the fastest and well developed Africa currencies, the minted metal enjoys an evolution of development. As it is still very much in  used even until today. However, it doesn't started well during the precolonial era as there were no adequate material to produced more currencies enough for distribution. some of this includes: minted copper manillas( bracelets),, iron bars, etc.

Coins

the kingdom of Axum could be said to be the earliest user of minted coins, which goes way back to about 6th to 8th C.E, it was later in the 8th C.E that the Swahili began minting their own coins.

Gold 

were the oldest export commodities from African sphere of medium of exchange. They were used for international trade such as the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and Indian ocean trade. In addition , this was also used by old Ashanti kingdom(now Ghana) for almost everything.

Bars of salt

this was used along side cowries in the regional based trade. It is also used in exchange for gold and silvers

textile (fragmentary(bark cloth) in Buganda), Ensida beads, ivory pieces, glass beads, liquor, silver and other imported object made up the pre-colonial currencies

.

Another stage of the evolution  of Africa currencies is the colonial period. This period made up the most difficult but fruitful experience in Africa countries. Hence, the country experiences imposition of imperial rule over their already developing culture by the European. The colonial rule did not only imposed its rule on the Africans community, but also on its already expanding and developing currencies, where likes of cowries which has been the major currency in the west Africa, the gold in the west Africa and other part of continent, etc. the minted coins in the east Africa, and many more. As a result of this, most Africans a doesn't fully  welcome it joyfully especially the laborer, who after being paid in the foreign currency; they would converts it to  local coins. Nonetheless, this fight fall on the loosing edge due to lack if adequate materials such as copper for producing of more minted coins. More reasons for the failure of the pre-colonial currencies is the failure to maintain a unified exchange commodities within the territories because some of the territories has a different currency for regional transaction and another for intercontinental transaction. Therefore the need for the rationalization of currency and the colonial currency is viable and sufficient for the task.

 Consequently, the result of the domination colonial currencies have encouraged the introduction of important development to the African currency and they are as follows: the introduction of bank notes and receipt for payment on every transaction performed such as payment of taxes and other bills; the era also brought in the colonial currencies bearing their leaders images over as identity of symbols of authority over African. this spur the need for Africa to also introduced their leaders photographs on their currencies; and many more; lastly, the establishment financial institute, i.e. the Communaute Francaise Africaine (CFA), national banks for the British colonies, were found to oversea the financial control of money and creation of national currencies and banknotes. therefore by the end of the colonial stages there were already and well structured currencies, a good exchange rates and government agencies in charge of the creation of national currencies and banknotes. 

 As its name suggested, Post-colonial stage, this is the period of evolution after the colonial stage. There was a remarkable shift in currencies in almost all African countries as Africans gained their independent from the colonial rules. Hence, this brought about the replacements of the African colonial currencies with their indigenous currencies, for instance: Ghana converted their currency from pounds sterling to cedi an indigenous Ghanaian given name for "cowry", South Africa has theirs as Rands, etc. It is worthy to note that as some people dropped their colonial master currency name some retain parts of it and this includes Kenya who has theirs as Kenya shillings, Central Africa Franc(CFA), East Africa Rupee, etc. Another change in the currencies is the establishment  of indigenous independent financial institute such as CBN in Nigeria to aid the production of currencies in the country. More to this remarkable evolution is the design on the bank notes; the nationalist and African leaders where featured in the currency note. and African culture were preached through the currencies( the Nigerian fifty naira and the new hundred naira- used for the celebration of a century anniversary, in Tanzania  it is UHURU(freedom) touch), etc.

 The current evolution phase of Africa currencies is birth, as a result of the advancement in technology and the advancement of the marketing worlds in general, it has moved from physical to the internet as there more shops online are now than the physical shops. similarly, as the online(digital)market is increasing developing radically, there is a need for  soft transaction of money where payment can be made through the internet rather than physical. Therefore, in an attempt to ease the transaction lots of online financial institutes, even physical banks shifted to the internet spaces and there are have birth of a lots crypto-currencies Dogecoins, Bitscoins, Ethereum, Tither, Pi and likes of others and more to come. And a rent statistic proves that Nigeria a west-state in Africa controls the larges share miners of Bitcoins crypto-currency. 

 In summary, the constant condition of African currencies in general is changing as the worlds evolves. that is to say, the evolution is yet reach its apex, but rather is advancing each passing as period. since the number the internet user doesn't reduces and the numbers transactions doesn't decrease, there is every possibilities that the currencies won't reduced but rather gain weight and possesses greater quality.  Just as  Africa currencies has shifted from a pre-colonial "exchange-commodities" to the world of crypto currencies the Africa world won't without doubt fall behind neither.