Brass Manillas - Slave Tokens

When the Portuguese arrived in Benin, Nigeria, in the fifteenth century, they quickly started trading brass and copper for pepper, cloth, ivory and slaves. 

The number of manillas in circulation increased dramatically from the sixteenth century when they became one of the standard trade currencies

The ship Douro built 1838 in Sunderland was wrecked in fog on Western rocks Round Rock, Isles of Scilly on 28,1,1843. Her cargo was described as 'armoury and brass stops. The wreck site was located around 1972.

It revealed many thousands of Brass 'Manillas'. These were otherwise known as Slave Tokens. This has lead to some speculation that the Douro was in fact a slave trader ship bound for South Africa.