Shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize Cundill History Prize Fage and Oliver Prize the
Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Pius Adesanmi Memorial Award Winner of the Historical
Writers' Association Non-Fiction Crown 2020 Winner of the American Historical Association's
Jerry Bentley Prize in World History 2020 Winner of the Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize for Global
Cultural Understanding 2019 An Observer and Wall Street Journal Book of the Year 2019 A
groundbreaking history that will transform our view of West Africa 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 Islamic world
since around 1000 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.
'Astonishing staggering' Ben Okri Daily Telegraph
