The History of Currency

 

9000 BC LIVESTOCK

To Barter or Not  to Barter

Contrary to popular belief, the idea that bartering pre-dates the invention of other forms of currency is now seen as unlikely. 1 The reason? Bartering is extremely inefficient. Historically, people have  engaged in a barter economy as a supplement to other  forms of payment.

With the rise of agriculture, other animals like cattle, sheep, camels and other livestock, along with sacks of grain were used as a traditional "stores of value".  Cattle were even called as "capitale" in latin, which is where we get the word "capital".2

1300 BC COWRIE SHELLS

Cowrie shells are the small, colorful shells of a certain type of sea snail found in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and have been used as currency all over the world. Individually or strung on necklaces, they represented everything useful in a currency: small, divisible, and durable.3

700-600 BC COINS

Alternative Shapes

Besides the lumps of gold and silver in Turkey, the earliest coins took on shapes of knives and  spades.4

The first coins were put into use in seventh century Turkey. Not exactly round, they were small lumps of a gold and silver micture called electrum, often stamped with a pattern on one side.  Despite their irregular shapes, early coins were held to a strict  weight standards.5

600 AD PAPER GOODS

In addition to the first paper money, China also invented  the first "banknotes," made of leather. One foot square decorated with patterns and a fringed border, princes were required to purchase these notes at a price of 400,000 copper coins, and to present gifts to the emperor on them.6

The Tang Dynasty of China was the one to put paper money into use, nearly 500 years before it caught on to Europe. But early experiments were not without pitfalls,: china went through financial crisis when the  paper money production grew until its value bottomed out, causing massive inflation.7

1800 THE GOLD STANDARD

Through the Nose

The phrase "through the nose" has its origin in ninth century Ireland. when the Danes conquered the island, they took census by "counting noses"  imposing high taxes on each "nose."8

Britain was the first country to adopt the gold standard as the fixed value of their currency.  Germany, France and the U.S. followed suit in 1870s. By 1937, in the wake of the Great Depression, not a single country remained fully on the gold standard, and in 1971, the U.S. fully suspended it.9

CITATIONS:

1. AntheoEncyclopedia.com 2020

2.Scholastic.com 2021

3.NMMuseum.be 2021

4.Money.org 2021

5.Ancient.eu 2015

6.ForumScienceCoins.com accessed 2021

7.Time.com 2021

8.Grammarlist.com 2021

9.Britannica.com 2021

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