The examination of coins and currencies used in the transoceanic trade of the western Indian Ocean reveals that the formative period between the tenth and the thirteenth centuries saw increased monetization and the proliferation of coinages struck by a number of polities in the region. At the same time, merchants belonging to trans-regional networks imported money from outside the Indian Ocean, most notably from the Mediterranean, and assimilated it into interdenominational currency zones of the Indian Ocean littorals. Coined money facilitated cross-cultural exchanges, and expertise in handling diverse but shared instruments of trade, such as the multidenominational currency assemblages described in this chapter was part and parcel of merchant identity across physical distance and boundaries of identity. |
