Manilla
Manilla
Name/Title
ManillaEntry/Object ID
2025.1.268Description
A brass horseshoe shaped object, like a small bracelet.Context
The name ‘manilla’ derives from the Portuguese ‘manilha’, which means a hand-ring or a bracelet. It was noted by European tradesmen in 16th & 17th centuries that ringlike objects were used for trading goods, primarily for agricultural exchanges but also in time becoming the main currency for the slave trade. Manillas were used by the British, Portuguese, Dutch and French to buy slaves in West Africa. Birmingham, UK became the centre for manufacture of small "popo" manillas, for exclusive used in the slave trade. Even after the slave trade was abolished they were still used as colonial currency in the purchase of such things as palm oil. By 1902 their import into West African States was prohibited but the locals continued to use them until the 1940s. In 1948 32 million manillas were bought and money issued against them from the West African Currency Board.Category
Coins, Tokens and Medals or Awards