More and more financiers speak about the modern tendency to cashless economy. Nowadays credit cards are replacing gradually cash on market. Americans use plastic money everywhere – in shops, cafe and restaurants, to reserve a room in a hotel, to buy tickets, etc.

But do you know that there are other forms of cashless market. For instant, trade beads in Africa. Now this “currency” is used only in illiterate African tribes, but only half a century ago this kind of money was in common use in West Africa.

Trade beads (or Slave Beads) were decorative glass beads used especially in Medieval Century as a currency to exchange for gold, goods and slaves. These beads were invented in Venice to ease the passage of European ships across the African continents.

Slave (trade) beads were so popular among Africans that hundreds of ships with these beads came in Africa.

First of all, trade beads were exchanged for slaves as well as for ivory, gold and other goods desired in Europe and around the world. The success of this form of currency can be explained through the high value that African people put upon decorative items. Africans often used beads for currency, and wealth storage, and social status could be easily identified by the quality, quantity and style of beads worn. That’s why trade beads were so popular in Africa.