View source for Cowrie

{{Short description|Common name for a group of sea snails}}
{{Distinguish|Kauri|Coury}}
{{Paraphyletic group
| auto = yes
| name = Cowrie<br />Cowry
| image = Cypraea caputserpentis.jpg
| image_caption = Cowries are generally seen on rocky areas of the sea bed.
| parent = Cypraeidae
}}
[[File:Cypraea chinensis with fully extended mantle.jpg|thumb|Cowrie (''[[Ovatipsa chinensis|Cypraea chinensis]]'') with fully extended mantle]]
[[File:Different cowries.jpg|thumb|Shells of various species of cowrie; all but one have their anterior ends pointing towards the top of this image.]]

'''Cowrie''' or '''cowry''' ({{plural form|'''cowries'''}}) is the [[common name]] for a group of small to large [[sea snail]]s in the family [[Cypraeidae]].

Cowrie shells have held cultural, economic, and ornamental significance in various cultures. The cowrie was the shell most widely used worldwide as [[shell money]]. It is most abundant in the [[Indian Ocean]], and was collected in the [[Maldive Islands]], in [[Sri Lanka]], along the Indian [[Malabar coast]], in [[Borneo]] and on other East Indian islands, in [[Maluku Islands|Maluku]] in the Pacific, and in various parts of the [[Africa]]n coast from [[Ras Hafun]], in [[Somalia]], to [[Mozambique]]. Cowrie shell money was important in the trade networks of [[Africa]], [[South Asia]], and [[East Asia]].

In the [[United States]] and [[Mexico]], cowrie species inhabit the waters off [[Central California]] to [[Baja California]] (the [[chestnut cowrie]] is the only cowrie species native to the [[eastern Pacific Ocean]] off the coast of the United States; further south, off the coast of Mexico, [[Central America]] and [[Peru]], [[Macrocypraea cervinetta|Little Deer Cowrie]] habitat can be found; and further into the Pacific from Central America, the Pacific habitat range of [[Monetaria moneta|Money Cowrie]] can be reached <ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Koerper |first1=Henry C. |last2=Whitney-Desautels |first2=Nancy |url=http://www.pcas.org/vol35n23/3523koerper2.pdf|date=1999|title=A Cowry Shell Artifact from Bolsa Chica : An Example of Prehistoric Exchange|journal=Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly|volume=35|issue=2 & 3|pages=|access-date=10 August 2022}}</ref>) as well as the waters south of the [[Southeastern United States]].<ref>{{cite web |author=[[The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia]]| url=https://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/ecology/animals/invertebrates/cowrie | title=Cowrie  |publisher= [[Columbia University Press]]|website=Infoplease.com}}</ref>

Some species in the family [[Ovulidae]] are also often referred to as cowries. In the [[British Isles]] the local ''[[Trivia (gastropod)|Trivia]]'' species (family Triviidae, species ''[[Trivia monacha]]'' and ''[[Trivia arctica]]'') are sometimes called cowries. The Ovulidae and the Triviidae are other [[family (biology)|families]] within [[Cypraeoidea]], the superfamily of cowries and their close relatives.

==Etymology==
The word ''cowrie'' comes from [[Hindi]] {{Lang|hi|कौडि}} ({{Transliteration|hi|kaudi}}), which is itself derived from [[Sanskrit]] {{Lang|sa|कपर्द}} (''{{Transliteration|sa|kaparda}}'').<ref>{{cite web
| title = Cowri
| website= Dictionary.com
| url = http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cowrie
| access-date = 25 September 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/cowrie_n?tab=etymology |title=Oxford English Dictionary |date=July 2023 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |at=cowrie (n.), Etymology |doi=10.1093/OED/4018863654}}</ref>

The term ''[[porcelain]]'' derives from the old [[Italian language|Italian]] term for the cowrie shell ({{Lang|it|porcellana}}) due to their similar appearance.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oed.com/start;jsessionid=4BEE04619E2BE3897A1C9666D83E7F96?authRejection=true&url=%2Fview%2FEntry%2F147941%3FredirectedFrom%3Dporcelain|title=Home : Oxford English Dictionary|website=Oed.com|access-date=10 August 2022|archive-date=10 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220810185817/https://www.oed.com/start;jsessionid=4BEE04619E2BE3897A1C9666D83E7F96?authRejection=true&url=%2Fview%2FEntry%2F147941%3FredirectedFrom%3Dporcelain|url-status=dead}}</ref>
== Shell description ==
[[File:Cypraea-moneta-001.jpg|thumb|1742 drawing of shells of the money cowrie, ''[[Monetaria moneta]]'']]
[[File:Cowrie shells.jpg|thumb|Cowrie shells]]

The shells of cowries are usually smooth and shiny and more or less egg-shaped. The round side of the shell is called the Dorsal Face, whereas the flat under side is called the Ventral Face, which shows a long, narrow, slit-like opening ([[aperture (mollusc)|aperture]]), which is often toothed at the edges. The narrower end of the egg-shaped cowrie shell is the anterior end, and the broader end of the shell is called the posterior. The [[Spire (mollusc)|spire]] of the shell is not visible in the adult shell of most species, but is visible in juveniles, which have a different shape from the adults.

Nearly all cowries have a porcelain-like shine, with some exceptions such as [[Hawaii]]'s granulated cowrie, ''[[Nucleolaria granulata]]''. Many have colorful patterns. Lengths range from {{Convert|5|mm|abbr=on|sigfig=1}} for some species up to {{Convert|19|cm|abbr=on}} for the Atlantic deer cowrie, ''[[Macrocypraea cervus]]''.

==Human use==
===Monetary use===
{{See also|Shell money}}
Cowrie shells, especially ''[[Monetaria moneta]]'', were used for centuries as currency by native Africans. (The money cowrie was almost impossible to counterfeit until the late 19th Century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hogendorn |first1=Jan |url=https://www.cambridge.org/jp/universitypress/subjects/history/regional-history-after-1500/shell-money-slave-trade?format=PB&isbn=9780521541107 |title=The Shell Money of the Slave Trade &#124; Regional history after 1500 |last2=Johnson |first2=Marion |date=September 2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521541107 |series=African Studies Series 49}}</ref>) Starting over three thousand years ago, cowrie shells, or copies of the shells, were used as [[Ancient Chinese coinage|Chinese currency]].<ref>[http://www.cowry.org/archive/NSN306CY.HTM#C "Money Cowries"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090405172236/http://www.cowry.org/archive/NSN306CY.HTM#C|date=2009-04-05}} by Ardis Doolin in ''Hawaiian Shell News'', NSN #306, June 1985</ref> They were also used as means of exchange in [[India]]. 

The [[Classical Chinese]] character for ''money'' ([[Wikt:貝|貝]]) originated as a stylized drawing of a Maldivian cowrie shell.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Xu Shen |author-link=Xu Shen |url=http://zhongwen.com/cgi-bin/zipux2.cgi?b5=%A8%A9 |title=cgi-bin/zipux2.cgi?b5=%A8%A9 |publisher=[[Dover Publications]] |publication-place=[[Yale University Press|Yale press]] |translator=L.Davrout |contribution=[[Shuowen Jiezi]] |format=zhongwen.com |access-date=2012-05-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225100252/http://zhongwen.com/cgi-bin/zipux2.cgi?b5=%A8%A9 |archive-date=2021-02-25 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bertsch |first=Wolfgang |date=Autumn 2000 |title=The Use of Maldivian Cowries as Money According to an 18th Century Portuguese Dictionary on World Currencies |url=https://www.orientalnumismaticsociety.org/archive/ONS_165.pdf |journal=Oriental Numismatic Society Newsletter |volume=165 |pages=18 |via=Oriental Numismatic Society Archive}}</ref> Words and characters concerning money, property or wealth usually have this as a [[Radical (Chinese character)|radical]]. Before the [[Spring and Autumn period]] the cowrie was used as a type of trade token awarding access to a feudal lord's resources to a worthy vassal.{{citation needed|date=August 2014}}

After the 1500s, the shell's use as currency became even more common. Western nations, chiefly through the [[History of slavery|slave trade]], introduced huge numbers of [[Maldives|Maldivian]] cowries in Africa.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Janice E. Weaver|location=[[Drake University]]|title=Jan Hogendorn and Marion Johnson. ''The Shell Money of the Slave Trade''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/african-studies-review/article/abs/jan-hogendorn-and-marion-johnson-the-shell-money-of-the-slave-trade-cambridge-cambridge-university-press-1986/4A5EC59DD8F214A81F5655182D06149A|date=September 1988|journal=African Studies Review|volume=31 |issue=2|publisher=[[African Studies Association]], [[Cambridge University Press]] |publication-date=23 May 2014|doi=10.2307/524433|jstor=524433 |access-date=29 April 2015 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> In parts of [[British West Africa]], cowries remained accepted for tax payments until the early 20th centuries, and their use as currency in unregulated environments persisted until the 1960s.<ref name=Helleiner>{{cite book |author=Eric Helleiner |title=The Making of National Money: Territorial Currencies in Historical Perspective |location=Ithaca and London |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=2003}}</ref>{{rp|172, 208}} The national currency of [[Ghana]] introduced in 1965, the [[Ghanaian cedi|cedi]], was named after cowrie shells. 

===Ritual use===
Cowrie shells are used in [[divination]] amongst the [[Yoruba people|Yoruba]] people of [[West Africa]] (cf. [[Ifá]] and the [[Annual Customs of Dahomey|annual customs of Dahomey]] of [[Benin]]). 

The indigenous [[Ojibway|Ojibwe]] people of [[North America]] use cowrie shells which are called '''miigis shells''' or '''whiteshells''' in [[Midewiwin]] ceremonies, and the [[Whiteshell Provincial Park]] in [[Manitoba]], [[Canada]] is named after this type of shell.<ref>{{cite book|title=Truth and Reconciliation in Canadian Schools|author=Pamela Rose Toulouse|publisher=Portage & Main Press|year=2018|page=65|isbn=9781553797463}}</ref> There is some debate{{By whom|date=April 2025}} about how the Ojibwe traded for or found these shells, so far inland and so far north, very distant from the natural habitat. Oral stories and [[birch bark scrolls]] seem to indicate that the shells were found in the ground, or washed up on the shores of lakes or rivers. Finding the cowrie shells so far inland could indicate the previous use of them by an earlier group in the area, who may have obtained them through an extensive trade network in the past.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}

In Eastern India, particularly in West Bengal, it is given as a token price for the ferry ride of the departed soul to cross the river "[[Vaitarani (mythology)|Vaitarani]]". Cowries are used during cremation. Cowries are also used in the worship of Goddess Laxmi.

In Brazil, as a result of the [[Atlantic slave trade]] from Africa, cowrie shells (called ''[[:pt:Jogo de búzios|búzios]]'') are also used to consult the [[Orisha|Orixás]] divinities and hear their replies.

Cowrie shells were among the devices used for divination by the [[Kaniyar Panicker]] astrologers of [[Kerala]], India.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D27KRLsFNnAC&pg=PA254 |first=T. K. Gopal |last=Panikkar |title=Malabar and its folk |page=257 |publisher=Asian Educational Services |year=1995 |orig-year=1900 |edition=2nd reprinted |isbn=978-81-206-0170-3}}</ref>

In certain parts of Africa, cowries were prized charms, and they were said to be associated with fecundity, sexual pleasure and good luck.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Tresidder|first1=Jack|title=The Hutchinson Dictionary of Symbols|date=1997|publisher=Helicon|location=London|isbn=1-85986-059-1|page=53}}</ref> It is also used in the treatment of certain diseases such as rashes and ringworm when it is burnt into ashes.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ameade |first1=Evans Paul Kwame |last2=Dayah |first2=Barnabas |last3=Kouame |first3=Lovis Nsoua Abina |last4=Edmond |first4=Saavielung Yaganomo |last5=Abraham |first5=Bodong |last6=James |first6=Balansuah Bayuo |last7=Stephen |first7=Gmawurim |last8=Abagna |first8=Linda Adobagna |last9=Adom |first9=Emmanuel |date=2023-05-19 |title=Current Uses of Cowries in Traditional Medicine After their Disuse as Currency-A Cross-Sectional Study in Ghana |url=https://crimsonpublishers.com/index.php |journal=Advances in Complementary & Alternative Medicine |language=English |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=727–732}}</ref>

In [[Pre-dynastic Egypt]] and Neolithic [[Southern Levant]], cowrie shells were placed in the graves of young girls.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Golani |first=Amir |date=2014 |title=Cowrie Shells and their Imitations as Ornamental Amulets in Egypt and the Near East |url=https://www.academia.edu/10613327 |journal=Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranea |pages=71–94}}</ref> The modified Levantine cowries were discovered ritually arranged around the skull in female burials. During the [[Bronze Age]], cowries became more common as funerary goods, also associated with burials of women and children.<ref>Kovács 2008: 17</ref> The [[cowroid]] was an Egyptian seal-amulet imitating the cowrie shell. Their imitations in stone or faience appear in the early 2nd millennium B.C.

===Jewelry===
[[File:Шейное украшение чувашской девушки. XIX в. Чуваши низовой группы.jpg|thumb|Traditional [[Chuvash people|Chuvash]] necklace made from silver coins, cowrie shells, and beads]]
Cowrie shells are also worn as [[jewelry]] or otherwise used as [[fashion|ornaments]] or [[amulet|charm]]s. In [[Mende people|Mende]] culture, cowrie shells are viewed as [[symbol]]s of [[womanhood]], [[fertility]], [[birth]] and [[wealth]].<ref>[https://archive.org/details/radiancefromwate00boon/page/219 <!-- quote=cowrie feminine. --> ''Radiance from the Waters: Ideals of Feminine Beauty in Mende Art''] by [[Sylvia Ardyn Boone]]. [[Yale University Press]], 1986.</ref> Its underside is supposed, by one modern ethnographic author, to represent a vulva or an eye.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/pss/1257370 | jstor=1257370 | title=Cowrie Shells as Amulets in Europe | last1=Hildburgh | first1=W. L. | journal=Folklore | date=1942 | volume=53 | issue=4 | pages=178–195 | doi=10.1080/0015587X.1942.9717654 | url-access=subscription }}</ref>

On the [[Fiji]] Islands, a shell of the golden cowrie or bulikula, ''[[Cypraea aurantium]]'', was drilled at the ends and worn on a string around the neck by [[tribal chief|chieftains]] as a badge of rank.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080324021830/http://www.stampsfiji.com/fijian.htm Cowries as a badge of rank in Fiji.] (archived)</ref> The women of [[Tuvalu]] use cowrie and other shells in traditional handicrafts.<ref name="ATP">{{cite web| last =Tiraa-Passfield | first = Anna |title= The uses of shells in traditional Tuvaluan handicrafts| publisher= SPC Traditional Marine Resource Management and Knowledge Information Bulletin #7|date = September 1996|url= http://www.spc.int/DigitalLibrary/Doc/FAME/InfoBull/TRAD/7/TRAD7_02_Tiraa.pdf| access-date=8 February 2014}}</ref>

===Games and gambling===
Cowrie shells are sometimes used in a way similar to [[dice]], e.g., in [[board games]] like [[Pachisi]] and [[Ashta Chamma (board game)|Ashta Chamma]]. A number of shells (6 or 7 in Pachisi) are thrown, with those landing aperture upwards indicating the actual number rolled.{{citation needed|date=August 2014}}

In [[Nepal]] cowries are used for a gambling game, where 16 pieces of cowries are tossed by four different bettors (and sub-bettors under them). This game is usually played at homes and in public during the [[Hindu]] festival of [[Tihar (festival)|Tihar]]<ref name="Cowries' use in Nepal">{{cite web |title=Tihar |url=http://www.yetitrailadventure.com/nepal/tihar.html |website=Yeti Trial Adventure|access-date=22 October 2014}}</ref> or [[Deepawali]]. In the same festival these shells are also worshiped as a symbol of Goddess [[Lakshmi]] and wealth.{{citation needed|date=March 2016}}

===Other===
Large cowrie shells such as that of a ''[[Cypraea tigris]]'' have been used in [[Europe]] in the recent past as a [[darning egg]] over which [[sock]] heels were stretched. The cowrie's smooth surface allows the needle to be positioned under the cloth more easily. {{citation needed|date=August 2014}}

In the 1940s and 1950s, small cowry shells were used as a teaching aid in infant schools e.g counting, adding, subtracting.

<gallery>
File:A print from 1845 shows cowry shells being used as money by an Arab trader.jpg|Print from 1845 shows cowrie shells being used as money by an Arab trader.
File:Antiquities of the southern Indians, particularly of the Georgia tribes (1873) (14777393065).jpg|Antiquities of Native Americans, particularly of the Georgia tribes (1873)
File:Cowrie shells - sozhi roll of 3.jpg|Cowrie shells used as dice, showing a roll of 3
</gallery>

== See also ==
*[[Money cowry]]
*[[Shell money]]
**[[Wampum]]
* [[The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* Felix Lorenz; Alex Hubert (1999). ''A Guide to Worldwide Cowries''. Conchbooks. {{isbn|978-3-925-91925-1}}.

== External links ==
* {{commonscat-inline}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090414110124/http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/cowries/ Cowrie Genomic Database Project]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060527111331/http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/classification/path/Cypraea.html#Cypraea Genus ''Cypraea'' on Animal Diversity Web]
* [http://www.cowry.org/ cowry.org – studying Hawaii's cowries]
* [http://www.beautifulcowries.net Beautifulcowries] – a gallery of images of cowries
* {{Cite Collier's|wstitle=Cowry|year=1921 |short=x}}
* {{Cite Americana|wstitle=Cowry|year=1920 |short=x}}
*"''[[wiktionary:miigis|miigis]]''" at [[Wiktionary]]

[[Category:Cypraeidae]]
[[Category:Mollusc common names]]