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3000 BCE
A World Without Money
Money, in some form, has been part of human history for at least the last 3,000 years. Before that time, it is assumed that a system of bartering was likely used. -
2500 BCE
Ancient Egyptians
Egyptian were making metal rings which some historians thinks they used as monney -
1100 BCE
China
In China, rather than exchanging objects like tools and weapons -
600 BCE
Not Just a Piece of Paper
Just when it looked like Lydia was taking the lead in currency developments, the Chinese moved from coins to paper money. -
600 BCE
Coins and Currency
Lydia's King Alyattes minted the first official currency. The coins were made from electrum, a mixture of silver and gold that occurs naturally, and stamped with pictures that acted as denominations. -
Europeans
Europeans were using more and more metal coins, made with metal taken from their colonies averseas -
Canadian colonies
Canadian colinies began to use paper money too and this innovation led to a huge increase in international trade. -
Pirates
A Spanish eight real coins was often Split up into bits pay for things, leaving the bits as a change -
Money Travels
The shift to paper money in Europe increased the amount of international trade that could occur. Banks and the ruling classes started buying currencies from other nations and created the first currency market. -
Mobile Payments
The 21st century gave rise to two disruptive forms of currency: Mobile payments and virtual currency. A mobile payment is money rendered for a product or service through a portable electronic device such as a cell phone, smartphone or PDA. -
Virtual Currency
Bitcoin, invented in 2009 by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto, became the gold standard--so to speak--for virtual currencies -
The Bottom Line
Despite many advances, money still has a very real and permanent effect on how we do business today. (Follow the development of money in the United States in The History Of Money: Currency Wars.)
