From clay tablets to legal tenders the history of money

THE HISTORY OF MONEY

By sararana_01
  • 2500 BCE

    First metal rings

    First metal rings
    Ancient Egyptians were making metal rings which some historians thinks they used as money.
  • 1100 BCE

    China

    China
    In China, rather than exchanging objects like tools and weapons, a system of using miniature replicas of the objects to be trades were used instead of the objects themselves.
  • 700 BCE

    First paper money

    First paper money
    In China the first paper money was being used.
  • 600 BCE

    First coins

    First coins
    First coins, as we would recognise them, were made in Lydia (now Western Turkey).

  • Widening of metal coins

    Widening of metal coins
    Europeans began to use more and more metal coins, made with metal taken from their colonies overseas.

  • Widening of paper money

    Widening of paper money
    Canadian and many other colonies began to use paper money too and this innovation led to a huge increase in international trade.

  • Use of 'Bits'

    Use of 'Bits'
    A Spanish eight real coin was often Split up into bits to pay for things, leaving the bits as change. 'Bit' was an English term for a small coin and was still used until very recently. In the English colonies of the West Indies half a real was four bits and a quarter was two bits, a phrase used by people in the USA today.

  • Money today

    Money today
    Because physical money is no longer directly linked to valuable ítems and because notes can no longer be exchanged for these precios metals, economies rely on people having confidence in the value of money.Nowadays, many people use plastic cards called debit cards to pay for things. The cards transfer money from their bank account to the shop's bank account. People also use money they don't even have yet by paying with credit cards. Theu then pay back the money later.