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2600 BCE
THE HISTORY OF MONEY
Historians find it hard to pinpoint te exact moment that the concept of money was invented. It is believed that from very early times barter end exchange were the main way of trading goods and services. -
2600 BCE
4000 TO 2600 YEARS AGO
Around 2500 BC Ancient Egyptians were making metal rings with some historians think they used as money. By 1100 BC 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. It seems that over time these may have transformed into easier to handle disc of metal because in Lydia between 700 and 600 BC the first coins, as we would recognise them, were made. -
400 TO 200 YEARS AGO
By 1600 AD Europeans were using more and more metal coins, made with metal taken from their colonies overseas. In these early days of money, the use precious metals in coins meant that money could be traded because it held a value. In 1685 Canadian colonies began to use paper money too and this innovation led to a huge increase in international trade. -
MONEY TODAY
Because this physical money is no longer linked to valuable items i.e. precious metals, and because notes con no longer be exchanged for these precious metals, economies rely on people having confidence in value of money. 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 playing with credit cards. They then pay the money back later