Research Catalog

Title

Cowrie shells and cowrie money : a global history / Bin Yang.

Author

Yang, Bin, 1972-

Publication

Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2019.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xiv, 292 pages : illustrations, maps; 24 cm.

Summary

"Originating in the sea, especially in the waters surrounding the low-lying islands of the Maldives, Cypraea moneta (sometimes confused with Cypraea annulus) was transported to various parts of Afro-Eurasia in the prehistoric era, and in many cases, it was gradually transformed into a form of money in various societies for a long span of time. Yang provides a global examination of cowrie money within and beyond Afro-Eurasia from the archaeological period to the early twentieth century. By focusing on cowrie money in Indian, Chinese, Southeast Asian, and West African societies and shell money in Pacific and North American societies, Yang synthsises and illustrates the economic and cultural connections, networks and interactions over a longue durée and in a cross-regional context, analysing locally varied experiences of cowrie money from a global perspective, arguing that cowrie money was the first global money that shaped Afro-Eurasian societies both individually and collectively, proposing a paradigm of the cowrie world and thus engaging many local, regional, transregional and global themes"--

Series Statement

Routledge approaches to history ; 25

Uniform Title

Routledge approaches to history ; 25.

Subjects

• Cowries
• Money > History
• History
• Shell money

Genre/Form

History.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

Global phenomenon, local varieties -- The Maldives: procurement and export -- India: in the beginning -- Southeast Asia: intra-Asian interactions -- Yunnan: an Indian influence in the Southeast Asian-Chinese world -- Why not in early China? -- Cowrie money in West Africa: connecting the worlds, old and new -- The Pacific Islands and North America: out of the Bengali system -- More than just money -- The cowrie money world.

Call Number

JFE 19-3500

ISBN

• 9781138593213
• 1138593214
• 9780429489587 (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

2018033527

OCLC

1054260549

Author

Yang, Bin, 1972- author.

Title

Cowrie shells and cowrie money : a global history / Bin Yang.

Publisher

Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2019.

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Routledge approaches to history ; 25

Routledge approaches to history ; 25.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Form:

Electronic version: Yang, Bin, 1972- Cowrie shells and cowrie money. Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2019 9780429489587 (OCoLC)1076573570

Research Call Number

JFE 19-3500