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150
Invention of Metal Money-!500 BC
Around 1500 BC the Poenenicians invented metal money. Up until then all money was cattle, lambs, goats, pigs, shells or equal barter. -
170
Cowrie Shells - 1200 BC
The first use of cowries, the shells of a mollusc that was widely available in the shallow waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, was in China. Historically, many societies have used cowries as money, and even as recently as the middle of this century, cowries have been used in some parts of Africa. The cowrie is the most widely and longest used currency in history. -
200
First Metal Money And Coins- 1000 BC
Bronze and Copper cowrie copys were manufactured by China at the end of the Stone Age and was the earliest forms of metal coins. Metal tool money, such as knife and spade monies, was also first used in China. Chinese coins were made out of base metals, often containing holes so they could be put together like a chain. -
250
Modern Coinage - 500 BC
The first modern coins were developed out of lumps of silver. They soon took the familar round form of today, and were stamped with various gods and emperors to mark their authenticity. These early coins first appeared in Lydia, which is part of present-day Turkey, but the techniques were quickly copied and further refined by the Greek, Persian, Macedonian, and later the Roman empires. -
Jan 1, 1535
Wampum
The earliest known use of wampum, which are strings of beads made from clam shells, was by North American Indians in 1535. In colonial North America, European colonists often used wampum as currency for trading with Native Americans. -
Present
Today currency continues to change and develop. Humans are finding new ways for technology to be used for money. More and more transactions with money are now online and with credit cards. -
Paper Currency
The first known paper banknotes appeared in China. China experienced over 500 years of early paper money before finding the best choice. Then beginning in 1455, the use of paper money in China disappeared for several hundred years. This was still many years before paper currency would reappear in Europe, and three centuries before it was considered common. -
The Nose
The phrase "To pay through the nose" comes from Danes in Ireland, who cut off the noses of those who were did not pay the Danish poll tax. -
Leather Money- 118 BC
Leather money was used in China in the form of one-foot-square pieces of white deerskin with colorful borders. This could be considered the first documented type of banknote.
