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Learn about the history and types of money, from ancient coins and paper to modern currency. Find out how money works and why people use it instead of bartering.
The Aztecs of Mexico used little dolls made of gold. The ancient Egyptians and the ancient Celts in Ireland used little metal rings made of bronze, copper or gold, and often wore their wealth as ornaments. Ancient peoples all over the world tried using different things: rice, bread, chocolate, beans, or corn.
- Early History
- Coins
- First Paper Money
- First European Banknotes
- Payment Cards
- Digital Currency
- Cryptocurrencies
- Images For Kids
The invention of money took place before the beginning of written history. Many things in ancient markets could be described as a medium of exchange. These included livestock and grain, cowrie shells or beadsthat were exchanged for more useful commodities. However, such exchanges would be better described as barter. Due to the complexities of ancie...
Gold and silver have been the most common forms of money throughout history. In many languages, such as Spanish, French, Hebrew and Italian, the word for silver is still directly related to the word for money. Sometimes other metals were used. For instance, Ancient Spartaminted coins from iron to discourage its citizens from engaging in foreign tra...
Paper money was introduced in Song dynastyChina during the 11th century. The development of the banknote began in the seventh century. By the early 12th century, the amount of banknotes issued in a single year amounted to an annual rate of 26 million strings of cash coins. In the 13th century, paper money became known in Europe through the accounts...
The first European banknotes were issued by Stockholms Banco, a predecessor of Sweden's central bank Sveriges Riksbank, in 1661. These replaced the copper-plates being used instead as a means of payment. Banks began issuing paper notes quite properly termed "banknotes", which circulated in the same way that government-issued currency circulates tod...
In the late 20th century, payment cards such as credit cards and debit cards became the dominant mode of consumer payment in the First World. The Bankamericard, launched in 1958, became the first third-party credit card to acquire widespread use and be accepted in shops and stores all over the United States, soon followed by the Mastercard and the ...
The development of computer technology in the second part of the twentieth century allowed money to be represented digitally. By 1990, in the United States, all money transferred between its central bank and commercial banks was in electronic form. By the 2000s most money existed as digital currencyin banks databases. In 2012, by number of transact...
In 2008, Bitcoin was proposed by an unknown author/s under the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto. It was implemented the same year. Its use of cryptography allowed the currency to have a trustless, non-fungible and tamper resistant distributed ledger called a blockchain. It became the first widely used decentralized, peer-to-peer, cryptocurrency. Other...
Spade money from the Zhou Dynasty, c. 650–400 BCGreek drachm of Aegina. Obverse: Land turtle. Reverse: ΑΙΓ(INA) and dolphin3 days ago · There is a little about the history of money, but most of the lessons revolve around basic economic concepts, international finance, macroeconomics, microeconomics, and personal finance. If you have a student interested in money, they are likely to find these subtopics interesting as well.
Money was invented more than 4,000 years ago. People who wanted to trade goods and services gradually realized that exchange would be easier if there were some single commodity that everyone would accept as valuable. There was something—precious metal, or three precious metals, to be exact.
Oct 26, 1996 · The History of Money. What is money? By definition, it's something of value. But over the last 10,000 years, the material form that money has taken has changed considerably—from cattle and...
