Where did African coins come from?

The earliest example of coins minted in Africa comes from the kingdom of Axum, which struck money from the 3rd until the 8th century ce. 18 In the 8th century ce, the Swahili sultanates of the East African coast also started to mint their own coins.

What currency was used in Saharan & West Africa?

Imported cloth also functioned as currency in Saharan and West African exchange. Cotton currency or baysa, named in French pièce de guinée, was a standard unit of cloth 15 meters in length and 1.5 meters wide.

Where did money come from in Africa?

Africa’s own material objects, used for the classic four functions of money in the precolonial period in trade within the continent, had two main sources: local materials such as copper, iron, and salt, which were crafted into forms for circulation, and imported items from trade across the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, and from the Mediterranean.