The Currencies That Built Pre-Colonial Nigeria
MONEY, POWER, AND IDENTITY
The Indigenous Currencies That Powered Pre-Colonial Nigeria
BEFORE political amalgamation, the regions that became Nigeria operated as distinct economic worlds, each with its own understanding of money, value, and trade. Currency was not merely a medium of exchange; it was a social institution tied to power, culture, and identity.
The Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa-Fulani systems reveal how African societies engineered monetary solutions suited to their environments.
Yoruba Currency: Cowries as State Infrastructure
Cowries in Yorubaland were more than shells; they were state-backed currency. Kings regulated markets, levied taxes in cowries, and paid palace officials through them. Entire administrative systems depended on their circulation.
Cowries facilitated regional specialisation—farmers, artisans, and traders all interacted within a shared economic language. The speed and scale at which cowries moved through markets rivalled early modern European systems.
Igbo Commerce: Flexible Money for a Decentralised Society
Igbo political decentralisation encouraged economic flexibility. Manillas thrived precisely because they were adaptable—serving as money, jewellery, and symbolic wealth.
Trade routes connected Igbo hinterlands to coastal ports, while barter systems allowed communities without access to metal currencies to participate in commerce. This hybrid system made Igboland one of the most commercially dynamic regions in West Africa.
Northern Nigeria: Global Trade, Global Currency
The Hausa-Fulani emirates’ use of international currencies like the Maria Theresa thaler reflects their integration into global trade networks centuries before colonialism. Currency here facilitated diplomacy, taxation, and empire-building.
Trade caravans carried not just goods but financial practices across deserts and kingdoms, embedding Northern Nigeria in a vast Afro-Eurasian economic system.
Colonial Centralisation and Its Consequences
British monetary unification erased local financial autonomy. Indigenous currencies were labelled primitive, yet colonial economies relied heavily on the same African trade networks they dismantled.
Monetary centralisation simplified administration but disrupted local economic logic, forcing diverse systems into a single imperial framework.
Why This History Matters
Understanding Nigeria’s indigenous currencies challenges myths of African economic dependency. The problem was never absence of systems—it was the violent replacement of functioning ones.
