This knife money has a long history and a wide geographical distribution. It was initially used in the region of modern Sudan. Today it is commonly called trombash, even though this was only one of its names (others were dadjata, dagata or shongo). Trombash was originally used as a throwing knife in war and as a sickle knife in farming. Being a valuable tool it soon became a means of exchange. When the Mangbetu people moved from Sudan to Central Africa in the 19th century, they brought trombash with them. The Bushongo, a people living in central Africa in the region of todays Congo at that time, adopted the trombash currency from the Mangbetu and used the knives only as money.