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Around 2,500 BC Ancient Egyptians were making metal rings which some historians think they used as money.
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By 1100 BC in China, a system of using miniature replicas of the objects to be tradedwere used instead of the objects themselves.
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In Lydia (now Western Turkey) between 700 and 600 BC the first coins were made. They were made of discs of electrum (a natural mix of silver and gold) and stamped with pictures to show their value.
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The first known gold coin was minted by the Lydian king Croesus.
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Around the same time in China the first paper money was being used.
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By 1600 AD Europeans were using more and more metal coins, made with metal taken from their colonies.
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In 1685 Canadian colonies began to use paper money too and this innovation led to huge increase in international trade.
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In 1700, 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 adn was still used until very recently.
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In the modern world 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. They then pay the money back later. -
