Cowrie shells to paper
SANTHINI GOVINDAN
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It is interesting to know that through the ages many different and unusual objects have been used as money.
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Cowrie shells were first used as currency in China. In fact, this was the Chinese character for `money'.
PHOTO: BIJOY GHOSH
MONEY: Purchasing capacity.
When you think of "money", the first image that probably springs to your mind is one of crisp banknotes or shiny, jingling coins. Or perhaps you think of your father's chequebook or credit card. But did you know that through the ages many different and unusual objects have been used as money?
Cowrie shells, which are shells of a mollusc that is widely found in the shallow waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, are the most widely and longest used currency in history. These shells were first used as currency in China. In fact, a cowrie shell originally represented the Chinese character for `money'. Historically, many societies, including many in ancient India, have used cowries as money, and even as recently as the 18th Century, cowries were used widely in many parts of Africa. During this period, 25,000 polished cowrie shells was the price of a cow, and 500 shells the price of a goat. Twenty-five cowrie shells were enough to buy a chicken. In the island of Fiji, whale's teeth were used as money instead of cowries, and red teeth were more valuable than white.
Oblong clamshells, cut, polished and made into beads called "wampum", were widely used as money in North America by the Indian tribes. The Narragansett people are believed to be the first producers of these beads, which were created by shaping and drilling the inner spiral of Whelk shells. Wampum was valued because it took a lot of time and hard work to find shells to make into beautiful beads. The Indian word "wampum" means white, which was the colour of the shell beads. However, black beads were sometimes found too, and these had double the value of white ones. Wampum was widely used as money in many early American states, and even the British administrators paid bank loans in these colonies in wampum.
It is interesting that a common phrase — shelling out money, originated from this period when shells were used as money.
Gourds and hides
The early colonists in America also used tobacco leaves and hide of deer as money. The hide was called "buckskins" which explains the term, "bucks" for money.
Another interesting form of money was used in the Micronesian island or Yap, where huge limestone rocks were quarried and cut into enormous coins. The value of these gigantic coins was determined by their size — some were 12 feet in diameter and weighed several tons. These coins were displayed outside the homes of their owners, and were looked upon as a great status symbol.
Can you believe that the island of Haiti once had a vegetable — a gourd, as its official currency? In 1807, when Henry Christophe, became Governor of the state, the country was bankrupt, but gourds grew in plenty.
Christophe immediately declared that every green gourd in the territory was state property, and soldiers went to every village to collect the gourds eventually 2,27,000 gourds were deposited into the state treasury, and peasants were paid in gourds. The currency of Haiti is called the "gourde" to this very day.
And finally when speaking of money, have you heard someone grumbling of how they had to "pay through their nose", for something?
Did you know that this phrase comes from the time when the Danes ruled Ireland? They were tough tax collectors. And if anyone failed to pay taxes in time, his nose was slit.
Pepper pot
In the Vedas, there is reference to cattle being used as money. The Manu-Smriti also speaks of payments being made in cattle. Spices have long been used as currency, and pepper, which originated in India, was used as commodity money in Europe. In 408 A.D., Attila the Hun, demanded 3,000 pounds of pepper as part of the ransom for the city of Rome. Peppercorns were used in England to pay dowry, tax, and even rent. A small advance on a rent, paid in peppercorns, led to the phrase "peppercorn rent", which is used even today, and means a very nominal rent. Salt has been circulated as money in Ethiopia, and also in Sumatra and Mexico. Ancient Roman soldiers were paid in a "salarium" of salt, and it's from this that the word "salary" comes.
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