Demonetization of traditional African currencies under colonial rule: the case of the Manilla in southeastern Nigeria

One of the results of the establishment of European administrators was the imposition by colonial powers of currencies which would bring the Africans more closely into their economic systems. Some native currencies disappeared from the scene more easily than others, and in the case of the manilla in southeastern Nigeria, far-reaching administrative measures were necessary to secure extinction. For more than half a century after the establishment of British rule, the manilla competed fairly with imperial coinage in many parts of the region. As late as the 1940s, elements of the colonial society openly defended the manilla as a symbol of their former independence. The manilla was finally put out of use at a great cost to the government. However, the government was also the beneficiary, for redemption of the manilla gave it a fuller control of the emerging social and economic order. Notes, sum. in English and French.