While rosario is the Spanish word for rosary, it also refers to simpler strands of beads, usually with added religious medals, either necklace-length or shorter hand- or pocket-length. The antique rosarios are typically strung with Venetian and Czech beads, and originate in South America, particularly Peru. The Venetian beads are often small designs that apparently were not traded with any frequency into Africa.

That's about as much as I know about rosarios and would appreciate any other information and corrections from the forum.

The first two pictures are of the rosarios I've collected. The one with the crucifix was remodeled slightly to shorten the sections with small white pony beads, and I removed the brass medals that were sticking out from the strand along the length. The other image shows four more strands, some of which were assembled from more than one original.