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2500 BCE
Ancient Egypt
Egypcians were making metal rings which some historians think the used as money -
1100 BCE
Ancient China
Rather than exchanging objects and goods, a system of using miniature replicas of the goods to be traded were used insted of the real objects -
650 BCE
Lydia (Western Turkey)
The first coins as we know them were made. They were made of discs of electrum and stamped with pictures like animals to show their value.
The Lydian king Croesus minted the first gold coin. -
650 BCE
China
The first paper money was being used -
Europe
Europeans were using more and more metal coins, made with metal taken from their colonies overseas. In those days, the money could be traded because it held a value. -
UK I
In the past, the pound sterling would anyone with a pound note to exchange it for a pound in weight of sterling silver. -
Trade increase: Canada
The canadian colonies began to use paper money too and this innovation led to a huge increase in international trade. -
Spanish real
The spanish real coin was often split up into bits to pay for things, leaving the bits as change. -
Bit - The 'threepenny'
Bit was a term for a small coin.
For example, the threepenny was only scrapped in 1971. In the english colonies of the West Indies, half a real was 4 bits and a quarter was 2 bits. It is used in USA today -
Money today
Physical money is not longer directly linked to valuable items and can not longer be exchanged for these metals. Economy rely o people having confidence in the value of money. -
Debit cards
In the modern world, we use this platic cards to pay for things. The cards transfer money from their bank account to the shop`s bank account. -
Credit cards
Some people use this type of cards to spend money they don´t own. Then, they pay the money back later -
Value of Money
The confidence of people in the value assigned to money is what determine it's value. Economic booms and crises happen when confidence in money increases or decreases.
