However, within the trading centers, money had come into regular use.

It usually took the form of cowrie shells, iron bars, brass rings, or other standard items of value.

Systems of banking and credit had also been developed, but even those involved in money, banking, and trade had a noncapitalist attitude towards wealth.

They enjoyed luxury and the display of affluence, but they had no concept of investing capital to increase overall production.
West Africa also carried on a vigorous trade with the outside world.
When the Europeans arrived, they discovered, as had the Arabs before them, that the West Africans could strike a hard bargain.

They had developed their own systems of weights and measures and insisted on using them.