History of Money
If people have too much of one thing and not enough of another, they can use their surplus good in exchange for the products that they need...
Updated On: 10/8/2007 [Total Votes: 946, Hits: 4279] Print

If people have too much of one thing and not enough of another, they can use their surplus good in exchange for the products that they need. This system is called barter, and men have been using it since the earliest times. Later, metals and precious jewels come to be used to replace this simple exchange. The metals were used to replace this simple exchange. The metals were used in the form of ingots (especially gold and silver because of their special properties : they are imperishable, consistent in quality, easy to break up and have a high value for a small weight). In antiquity the Phoenicians were the most outstanding commercial race, buying and selling an amazing variety of products. The Hindu sacred books or Vedas and the Book of Genesis in the Bible mention this type of primitive money (metal ingots). The first coins were minted in Lydia in the seventh century BC and were called 'electrons'. As money improved the coins took the form of small discs which became progressively rounder and flatter. Some ancient coins include the Athenian drachma (a silver coin), the Mecedonian talent, the Roman denarius and sestertius, the besant of the Middle Ages, the maravedi, doubloon and crown of the medival Christian Spain. In the nineteenth century the circulation of paper money become general.

Did you know . . .

. . . that the word 'money' comes from the Latin Moneta, the surname of the goddess Juno in whose temple coins were made?

Related Words:
earliest times, manufactured goods, primitive money, seventh century, Hindu sacred books, Roman denarius

Print | TOP

 • Thanksgiving Day Coloringbook
 • Thanksgiving Day Festival
 • Thanksgiving Day Greetings
 • Short Poems for children
 • Thanksgiving Sayings
 • When is Thanksgiving Day
 • Activities, History, Quiz
 • First Thanksgiving
 • Thanksgiving Feast, Art & Craft Ideas, Gift Ideas
 • Blessings
 • Calendar, Continental Congress National Thanksgiving Proclamations, Thanksgiving Turkey Presidential Pardon
 • 1777 Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1778 Thanksgiving Proclamation, Prayers, Catholic Thanksgiving Prayer, Family Thanksgiving Prayer