A ring of metal worn on the arm or wrist in certain African societies and used as a medium of exchange. They were also widely used as currency and a medium of exchange. Huge quantities were imported into western Africa from Europe to finance the transatlantic slave trade.

This manilla was recovered from the ‘Douro’, which was wrecked off the Isles of Scilly on 28 January 1843, on a voyage from Liverpool to Oporto in Portugal. She was carrying cotton bales and thousands of manillas. The 'Douro' was not a slaver but the manilas in her cargo were probably intended for transfer to other ships to be used to pay for the numerous slaves still being shipped to Brazil by the Portuguese.