Trade beads are beads that were used as a medium of barter within and amongst human communities. They are considered to be one of the earliest forms of trade between members of the human race. It has also been surmised that bead trading was one of the reasons why humans developed language. The success of this form of currency can largely be attributed to the work required to produce them locally (i.e. scarcity) and salability across space as well as the fact that they are easily portable, countable, and divisible, do not decay, and carry intrinsic value as objects of ornamentation in many cultures. They could be incorporated into decorative beadworks which could easily be broken down again into individual beads to facilitate smaller purchases.
History
Africa Red beads made of coral, and later of glass, were used as an instrument of barter in Madagascar starting in the 12th century (and possibly earlier). Though they were traded by all classes, only those of noble status were permitted to wear them. The beads were also used in the creation of ody charms. Beads were later produced in Europe as a trade good to ease the passage of European explorers and traders mainly across the African continent. The beads were made throughout Europe although the Venetians dominated production. The production of slave (trade) beads became so popular that literally tons of these beads were used for this purpose. Beads were used as ballast in slave/trade ships for the outbound trip. The beads and other trade items were exchanged for human cargo as well as ivory, gold, and other goods desired in Europe and around the world. The beads traded were not of a set design, but were produced according to demand. Millefiori (thousand flower) beads from Venice, Italy were one of the most commonly traded beads, and are commonly known as "African trade beads." They were produced by creating flowers or stripes from glass canes, that were then cut and moulded onto a core of solid color. Glass beadmaking was not common in Africa and the ease of production of these beads by European artisans enabled exploitation via a speculative attack on this West African monetary system. Africans often used beads for currency and wealth storage, and social status could be easily determined by the quality, quantity and style of jewellery worn. This created a high demand for trade beads in Africa. In some cases, different colors of beads seem to have been designated as an exchange medium for different types of good (e.g. one type of bead might be traded exclusively for gold, another for slaves, etc.) Beads manufactured in Europe continued to accompany exploration of Africa using Indigenous routes into the interior as recently as the late nineteenth century. Beads such as the kiffa beads of Mauritania are thought to have resulted from women creating powdered glass beads to mimic the appearance of millefiori beads. Aggry beads are a particular type of decorated glass bead from Ghana. The practice continued until the early twentieth century.
Australia and Oceania See also: Shell money § Oceania and Australia Shell beads were commonly used for both ornamentation and as currency in island societies. In some cases (as in Palau and New Britain), different colors of shells were assigned different values. Shell beads were used as both decoration and currency on the Gilbert Islands (now part of Kiribati) in the South Pacific Ocean. While the shells themselves might be valuable, at least part of the acknowledged value of the beads seemed to derive from the labor involved in their production; the anthropologist Sir Richard Carnac Temple notes that shell beads were valued as the highest form of currency among inhabitants of the Banks Islands (now part of Vanatu) of the South Pacific specifically because the bead-making process was labor-intensive. Beads made of other materials were also employed as currency. Glass, enamel, terracota, red stone (bungan or pangungan), and agate (kalkbut) beads were used as currency in Palau. Other South Pacific groups traded in beads made of pearls, coconut shells, nut shells, and tortoiseshell.
North America See also: Chief's Beads and wampum Trade beads were used United States and Canada, and throughout Latin America. Venetian glass trade beads were found at three prehistoric Inuit habitation sites in Alaska, including Punyik Point. Uninhabited today and located a mile from the Continental Divide in the Brooks Range, the area was a part of ancient trade routes from the Bering Sea to the Arctic Ocean. Researchers believe that the beads were likely brought across Eurasia and over the Bering Strait, making this discovery "the first documented instance of the presence of indubitable European materials in prehistoric sites in the western hemisphere as the result of overland transport across the Eurasian continent." The beads were dated to between 1440 and 1480 using radiocarbon dating (predating Christopher Columbus' 1492 expedition. The dating and provenance has been challenged by other researchers, who point out that such beads were not made in Venice until the mid-sixteenth century and positing an early-seventeenth-century French origin. Bead designs were variable. Large blue beads were favoured early in the trade, although details of when European trade with Native Americans began remain elusive. The frequency of archaeological discovery of each type indicates their popularity. Members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition observed trade of blue glass "chief beads" in the Pacific Northwest.
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