The winds of trade facilitated a rich exchange of material culture between the pre-colonial Philippines and its neighboring cultures.
Seafarers brought in troves of goods, precious metals, wood, porcelain, and earthenware to exchange for gold, pearls, fabrics, and other
precious commodities. During this period, payment was not in the form of coins and banknotes but through barter—a trade of goods, anchored on
trust and confidence. The barter trade was a system already in place prior to the arrival of the Spaniards to our shores.
Layag, or sail in Filipino, sails us back to the pre-conquest period of our history. It chronicles how neighboring cultures influenced one another,
how a product’s value was perceived, and how objects were exchanged and evolved into a rudimentary monetary system that required a
standardized unit of value that facilitated trade among different groups.
In this virtual exhibition, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas presents select pieces of pre-colonial currency from its numismatic collection.
