Monetary Landscapes of the Red Sea

Beschreibung

This book explores the history of money in Eritrea from the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 to the aftermath of the First World War. It argues that, despite the consolidation of Italian colonial rule, the transition towards a standardised monetary system was neither swift nor inevitable. Multiple monetary objects persisted in Eritrea and the wider Red Sea region throughout the liberal phase of Italian colonialism.

The book examines the intersection of colonial authority and monetary practices in selected case studies. It traces the genesis of Italian monetary reforms and the processes of adaptation involving colonial knowledge and African intermediaries. The case of military labour shows the army's role in the diffusion of colonial money, and how soldiers and their families integrated it with existing modes of wealth accumulation. While Italian officials tried to control circulation through formal banking, African, Arab, and Indian traders sustained local trade through flexible, hybrid systems.

Bridging economic and social history, the book treats money as a vantage point on the limits of colonial rule and brings Italian colonialism in the Red Sea into a conversation from which it has been largely absent.

Autor*in

Alessandro De Cola

Themen in »Monetary Landscapes of the Red Sea«

Geschichte des Geldes Afrikanische Wirtschaftsgeschichte Italienischer Kolonialismus Eritrea History of Money African Economic History Italian Colonialism

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