{"product_id":"fistful-of-shells-book-toby-green-9780241003176","title":"A Fistful of Shells","description":"By the time of the 'Scramble for Africa' in the late nineteenth century,  Africa had already been globally connected for many centuries. Its gold  had fuelled the economies of Europe and the Islamic world since around  1000 CE, and its sophisticated kingdoms had traded with Europeans along the  coasts from Senegal down to Angola since the fifteenth century. Until  at least 1650, this was a trade of equals, using a variety of currencies  - most importantly shells: the cowrie shells imported from the  Maldives, and the nzimbu shells imported from Brazil.  Toby Green's groundbreaking new book transforms our view of West and  West-Central Africa. It reconstructs the world of kingdoms whose  existence (like those of Europe) revolved around warfare, taxation,  trade, diplomacy, complex religious beliefs, royal display and  extravagance, and the production of art. Over time, the  relationship between Africa and Europe revolved ever more around the  trade in slaves, damaging Africa's relative political and economic power  as the terms of monetary exchange shifted drastically in Europe's  favour. In spite of these growing capital imbalances, longstanding  contacts ensured remarkable connections between the Age of Revolution in  Europe and America and the birth of a revolutionary nineteenth century  in Africa.  A Fistful of Shells draws not just on written  histories, but on archival research in nine countries, on art,  praise-singers, oral history, archaeology, letters and the author's  personal experience to create a new perspective on the history of one of  the world's most important regions.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49579772051729,"sku":"GOR009550816","price":70.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50055412089105,"sku":"GOR009550817","price":28.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50278363365649,"sku":"GOR012456898","price":14.39,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0241003172.jpg?v=1750973834","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/products\/fistful-of-shells-book-toby-green-9780241003176","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}