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Cowrie is a 
Resource in Civilization VII.
Strategy[]
Cowrie is found on Coastal tiles.
Civilopedia entry[]
The cowrie is a ubiquitous sea snail found throughout the Indian Ocean and the tropical regions of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Their shells are oval-shaped and have a vertical opening on one side lined with what look like teeth. They tend to be shiny, looking as if already polished, and range in size from 5 mm all the way up to 19 cm for the largest. Cowries come in a variety of colors and patterns, and scientists have enumerated hundreds of different species.
Currency has been the primary human use of cowries throughout history. They were used for thousands of years by Africans, Indians, and the Chinese, with evidence stretching back to the Bronze Age in Egypt. In the 16th century and following, Europeans used cowries to enter African markets and proliferate the slave trade. The uniform shape and weight of a cowrie shell combined with its resistance to forgery as a natural object helped cement its importance in trade until the 20th century.
Other uses of cowries include as jewelry, in divination, and in games. Indians have used them as a kind of dice for a variety of board games, tossing a handful of cowries and counting those that land aperture up. In the Yoruba religion of West Africa and other related practices, cowries are an important spiritual symbol, playing a role as talismans and in divination. The seer will pose questions to the spirits or Orishas, and then cast a set of cowries, typically 16, reading the pattern in the way they fall. Cowries have represented fertility, wealth, and health throughout their history, and still today, they feature in fashion and art, particularly that of the African diaspora.