Whydah Galley

[Jim McDougall]

It seems the manilla was actually a primary means of exchange in the slave trade, so the presence of these in the proximity of a slave ship wreck such as the Whydah is pretty compelling suggestion that these were probably directly connected in that trade.
Apparently the 16th century price for a slave was 8 to 10 manillas so that is a strong indicator.
While these may not have been intended as ornament, they may have been worn on the wrists as a means of holding them. In many cultures the items of jewelry or other items such as this while worn on the person, are used as currency.

Mark, I agree totally with your take on Barry Clifford. While he may not make points as man of the hour in certain groups, his efforts have given us so much in the understanding and appreciation of the times of piracy. His persona as a bit of a scalawag seems as you say, quite in kind with the figures we study.

[Rick]

Beware, beware the Bight of the Benin, for few come out though many go in.

Here's a little insight on those 'Manilas' and the slave trade.
https://www.ancient-origins.net/arti...t-brass-008565

[Jim McDougall]

I always thought that term 'bight' was strange, it really is just a word for a shallow bay in a kind of curve in a coastline.
The words describing the 'Bight of Benin' are part of a rhyme which seems to have many variations but the same foreboding implications.

The fact of the Portuguese presence in these regions and their key role in the slavery situation are well established and the link in the previous post is quite descritive of the influences made.

In the same regions on what was known as 'the Slave Coast' was the Kingdom of Dahomey where Sir Richard Burton in 1863 observed some of the gruesome 'ceremonies' of King Gelele.

It would seem the Portuguese interest in procuring natives was in a sense to preclude their use in such sacrificial horror, though the grim travesty of slavery was in actuality far from 'humanitarian'. Whatever the case, this commerce carried on with other European participants, and the Whydah ship was actually named for the slave port of Whidah on this coast.
Blackbeard's vessel, the Queen Annes Revenge was formerly a French slave vessel as well. Another shipwreck well known was the slave vessel 'Henrietta Marie'.

[Pukka Bundook]

Dear Fernando,

Thank you for waking me up re, these manilas. It seems in the dim and dusty past, I knew the currency connection, but it had slipped my memory!

Kind regards,
R.

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Pukka Bundook

Dear Fernando,

Thank you for waking me up re, these manilas. It seems in the dim and dusty past, I knew the currency connection, but it had slipped my memory!

Kind regards,
R.

You arent the only one who was unaware of these things, I had never known of them until this thread.....I just looked it up and pretty fascinating......thats the good thing about discussions....learning. While obviously these manilla were not ONLY for slave trade, the presence of these particular examples found in waters where slave ships traveled in a location far from their origin suggests these were.

[fernando]

Your'e welcome Richard ...
I know my theory had a couple flaws, but those hopefuly not irrecuperable.
Manilhas (from the Latin manicŭla by the Castillian Manillas) were inherent to a pre-monetary system used in Sub-Saharian Africa, which included objects like spiral rings and crosses of different weights, where manilhas apparently played a greater role in trade and trafic of slaves since the XVI century in West Africa. These were made in a bronze league, and were produced in England, France and Germany. Portuguese, not exploring copper mines, had to acquire them in cities of those countries.
Similar to bracelets in shape, a most appreciated adornment among African population as a symbol of status, wealth and power, these became a widespread object of exchange in the commerce between Europe, Africa and the Americas.
Existing sources refer the amount of manilhas used in the trade (rescue) of Slaves in Africa. According to the Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis, by Duarte Pacheco Pereira, a slave provenant of Benin in the beginning of the XVI century could be traded for 10 to 12 manilhas. A few years later, as referred by the Regiment of São Jorge da Mina (currently Ghana) a slave would already cost 40 to 50 manilhas. As slavery trafic increased, traders needed to go further into the interior to find them, which spent longer time and cost, their value in Benin, Mina ou Arguim posts increasing circa 500%.
We can read in Rick's excelent link that bronze (and not only) metalwork has developed among Benin artisans long before Europeans (Portuguese) went there, with the slave trade being one of their "hobbies". And potentialy (surely) quoted metal implements were already used as a trade currency.
On the other hand, between th XIII and the XVI century, artisans had to acquire raw material in local resources in order to built their sculptures.
So the 'modern' manilha appears in the scene admitedly with a dual use. Those showing up by the thousand (vide Whydah) with a standard basic shape, with no other plausible purpose than that of slaves 'acquisition', expectedly having a further use; natives would not be supposed to hoard zillions of dull copper rings in their attics. So a part (most) of those would ended up on melting pots for the makng of the famous Benin bronzes; something we may deprehend from from Rick's linked article. The other use of manilhas would be that of resourcing the more decorated ones, more, i would say, for keeping in wealth chests, wedding gifts and so. The example i offered my daughter, despite being the basic version, shows well how these apparent bracelets are not necesarily wrist implements.
Attached examples of slavery imprisonment kept in the Portuguese Museum of Archaeolo and, imagine ... cowrie shells,the longest and most widely used currency of all times, a disputed means of currency in the period.

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[fernando]

I will add to the ...
- XVI century Benin bronze of a Portuguese soldier (London -museum of Mankind),
- Some stats on the Slave trafic, now roughly translated.
- A few examples of the manilha range (and not only), with respective captions, which show us that, the use of these pre-coinage resources was not unique (or even contemporary) to the Slaves trade (Courtesy Money Museum).


.

[Jim McDougall]

Great and fascinating information.