ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Sepik Coast exchange

Okay kiddo, let me explain what we mean by Sepik Coast Exchange.

So there are different cultures and groups of people in the world who live in different places. The Sepik Coast is a place where people live, it's in Papua New Guinea which is a country in the South Pacific.

Now, these people have a special way of trading with each other. Trading means exchanging things you have with things someone else has. For example, maybe you have a toy car that you don't play with anymore, and your friend has a bike that they don't use. You can trade your toy car with your friend's bike so that both of you have something new to play with.

The people who live on the Sepik Coast also trade things with each other, but they have some unique ways of doing it. They have something called shell money, which is basically little round pieces made of special shells that they find in the ocean. They use this shell money to trade with each other instead of using regular money like we do.

Sometimes, they have big events called "sing-sings" where people from different areas come together to trade with each other. It's like a big market or a fair. They might also exchange other things like food, baskets, or artwork that they make.

Overall, the Sepik Coast exchange is just a fancy way of saying that these people have their own special way of trading things with each other, and they use shell money and sing-sings to do it. Pretty neat, huh?
Related topics others have asked about: