Cowrie Islands Pendant

Ancient travelers and historians such as El Mas’udi, Al Idrisi and Al-biruni had written about the “Cowrie Islands”. Ibn Battuta in 1343, and later Ma Huan, a Chinese historian in 1433 explains the use of cowrie shells as a medium of exchange and currency, and its trade across the world, with the people of Bengal, Yemen, Thailand and other distant lands. Archeologist Heyerdahl in his own research and travels speculated that the significance of cowries to the wealth of the Maldives dated back to the Indus Valley civilization - early records of the Gulf of Cambay mentions ships of cowries from the Maldives; and on his visit to the prehistoric port of Lothal, a harbor city of Mohenjo-Daro, the capital of the Indus Valley Civilization, a busy port around the time of its collapse between 2,500 BC and 1,500 BC. Its museum now holds treasures excavated at the Lothal wharfs; and one exhibit was of Cypraea Moneta, the Maldive cowrie, which makes it clear that the traditional value of the cowrie had survived in this part of the world for over 3,000 years.

The Cowrie Islands is a significant chapter of Maldive history - impressive not for just how far the cowries reached across the world; but the power of the monopoly the islands held over them, which gave the Maldives a place in the ancient global trade map.

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ORIGINS Jewelry Collection — Paying homage to the indigenous history, folk and oral tradition of the thousand isles, each piece of the ORIGINS jewelry collection tells an ancient story, and celebrates a cultural heritage rooted in mysticism and wonder.