African Agencies in the Making of Colonial Currencies: The Case of Ḥasan Mūsā al-ʿAqqād in the Italian Colony of Eritrea (1885–1890)

A growing body of literature on the monetary history of Africa focuses on the processes of domestication of colonial currencies. While these studies highlight how African actors manipu lated colonial currencies and adapted to colonial monetary reforms, they generally exclude Afri can agency in the design process of colonial monetary systems. Through the case of the Egyptian exile in Eritrea Ḥasan Mūsā al-ʿAqqād, this article demonstrates how privileged African actors could participate in the design process of colonial monetary systems. By comparing implemen ted colonial policies and the contributions of African actors in the design process, it is possible to highlight some aspects of the sociocultural reality of the colonies that were overlooked and neglected by colonial administrators. The analysis of Ḥasan Mūsā al-ʿAqqād’s memorandum on the introduction of a new colonial monetary system reveals that Italian policymakers prioritised their accounting needs over local accounting systems and numerical scales in their first mone tary reform in the colony of Eritrea, offering a new potential explanation for its failure.