ALOKIK Natural White Cowrie/Kaudi/Kawri/Kori Sea Shell For Puja And Multi Purpose Uses (21 Pcs)

Cowrie shells or cowries are mostly used today as decoration or in jewelry. They are a favorite type of seashell for ocean lovers because of their unique rounded shape smooth surface and porcelain appearance. Because of their beauty cowries have been utilized by humans for thousands of years as jewelry game dice and even as currency. At some point in history cowries has been used as money on every inhabited continent. While cowries are the most abundant in the Indian ocean their use spread worldwide. Cowries circulated in India and China as currency as early as three thousand years ago and were used around the world until the twentieth century. The classical Chinese character for money is actually a stylized depiction of a cowrie shell. Archaeological findings in North America have discovered cowries far inland farther than they could have washed up on their own suggesting that they were brought inland by natives possibly for use as money. Cowrie shells also were used in Africa as currency. The shells had been used by some of the western nations for centuries but the shell money grew in popularity after the explosion of the slave trade in the 1500s. Western nations along the coast would purchase slaves from nations farther inland and pay them with cowries and then sell the slaves to Europeans.