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2500 BCE
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egyptians were making metal rings which some historians think they used as money. -
1100 BCE
China
In China, rather than exchanging objects like tools and weapons, a system of using miniature replicas of the objects to be traded were used instead of the objects themselves. -
650 BCE
Lydia (now Western Turkey)
In Lydia between 700 and 600 BC the first coins, as we would recognise them, were made. They were made of discs of electrum (a natural mix of silver and gold) and stamped with pictures to show their value, they had different animals. The first known gold coin was minted by the Lydian king Croesus -
650 BCE
China 2
Around the same time in China the first paper money was being used. -
Europe
By that time, Europeans were using more metal coins. They made them with metal taken from their colonies overseas.
In those days of money, the use of precious metals in coins meant that the money could be traded because it held a value.
In the past, the pound sterling would allow anyone with a pound note to exchange it for a pound in weight of sterling silver.
Nowadays, coins and notes are only symbolic and can't be exchanged for precious metals. -
Canadian colonies
In this year Canadian colonies began to use paper money too and this innovation led to a huge increase in international trade. -
1700s
In this year if a pirate walked into your shop he might try to pay in pieces of eight.
A Spanish eight real coin was often split up into bits to pay; leaving the bits as change.
- Bit: an English term for a small coin that was still used until very recently. -
Threepenny
The threepenny was only scrapped in this year. -
Credit and debit cards
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. With credit cards people can pay with money they don't have yet.
