Options
What was the first machine struck African coin?
spoon
Posts: 2,798 ✭✭✭
Anyone know? I don't!
Another, what is the earliest sub-Saharan African coin of the modern era?
Of course there are the Islamic coinages in north Africa, but what about the southern region? The Portuguese had coins for Angola in the late 1600s. Aside from that??
Another, what is the earliest sub-Saharan African coin of the modern era?
Of course there are the Islamic coinages in north Africa, but what about the southern region? The Portuguese had coins for Angola in the late 1600s. Aside from that??
0
Comments
Prior to the arrival of the Europeans, the "Islamic sphere" also included the east coast of Africa, from Somalia right down to Mozambique; local sultans and princes in these areas occasionally issued their own coinage. The Sultans of Kilwa, in what is now Tanzania, appear to have been the most powerful, and most prolific coin issuers, from the eleventh to the sixteenth centuries.
There are, of course, the "primitive currencies" of the West African coast, such as manilla rings, kissi pennies and katanga crosses. While these were metallic objects made specifically for use as money, they're not small and round, and definitely don't fit in a 2x2; they also weren't issued by a governmental authority, so they're not listed in the Krauses.
The only sub-Saharan African nation with a pre-colonial coinage tradition is Ethiopia. Ancient Ethiopia, usually known as the Axumite Empire, struck coins from about 100 to 700 AD. With the rise of Islam in the area, Axumite power waned and Ethiopian coinage ceased until 1892.
Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations"
Apparently I have been awarded one DPOTD.