Money Talks: The History of Money

Money Talks: The History of Money

by Joep van der Werff

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You go to the corner store and buy a carton of milk and some eggs. You pay and you leave. That`s normal, right?Your parents buy some new clothes for you: a pair of blue jeans and a nice T-shirt. When they pay, they don`t ever need money. They pull a piece of plastic from their wallet, give it to the cashier and that`s it.That`s what credit cards are for, right?It`s hard for us to belive that there once was a time when credit cards didn`t exist. There was evern a time when money didn`t exist!

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Barter

There was a time when you had to go to the farmer for your milk and eggs. The farmer took something he or she needed, maybe some corn that you grew in tour fields.This exchange of products is called barter.The barter system is based on reciprocal gifts: "If I give you some corn, will you give me some eggs?" Barter worked before money existed.Berfore that system, people didn`t have anything like money. They helped each other and gave each other things. If they killed a bison thogether, they would cook the meat and share it with everybody in the community. If a an needed to build a house or hut, other men heped him.Barter also incluided physical labor. men and women worked in exchange for food.

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Commodities

Little by little, primitive money started to appear. People used something of value to pay a product or service. In Mesoamerica, chocolate was a valued drink. Aztecs used cocoa beans as money. They were small, easy to carry and easy to count. For example, 20 cocoa beans paid for a tameme, a poter to carry your things home. Large amounts were paid in quachtli, a long white cape. Asimple quachtli was worth 65 cocoa beans, but a well-made and decorated quacli could cost up to 300 cocoa beans! 

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    5 green chilies = 1 cocoa bean    1 large tomato = 1 cocoa bean         1 avocado = 3 cocoa beans          1 rabbit = 30 cocoa beans         1 turkey = 100 cocoa beans

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1 canoe = 1 quachtli100 sheets of amate paper = 1 quachtli1 warrior`s costume and shield = 64 quachtli1 string of jade beads = 600 quachtli

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Primitive Money

Some commodities or primitive money are: amber, beads, cocoa beans, cowries (large shells), drums, eggs, feathers, gongs, hoes (a tool to work the land), ivory, jade, mats (to cober the floor), nails, oxen (a crystal), rice, salt, thimbles (a tool for making clothes), vodka and yarns (wool for making clothes).

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Commidities had to be easy to store, easy to carry aound and everybody had to agree about their value. They also needed to be durable. Old and wrinkled cocoa beans had less value than new ones!An important barter or commodity was cattle. Cows, sheep and goats were important in early civilizations. They provided meat for food, wool and skins for clothes and bones for tools. Equally important was the ceremonial or religious value of cattle. They were used for offerings. Cattle were a primitive from of money because the could be counted. The more cows a family had, the richer they were.

American indians from the Northwest had potlach parties or festivals. The purpose of a potlach party was hosted by a family or a clan. It was considered a grear honor to host a potlach party. It was a kind of competition: Who can give the most things to others?A hundred years ago, the Kirghiz people of the Russian steppe fields used horses as thier commodity money and they gave the skins of lambs (young sheep) as small change.The only large civilization that was complety without commodity money was the Inca culture in South America. The Incas traded products and labor: they used the barter system also to exchange labor. For example, they said, "If you help me cuild my house I`ll help you harvest corn." Imagine a community where no money changed hands!

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Money Words

The word dollar comes from the thaler coins from 16th century Europe.The $ sign originates from the Spanglish word Peso, with the vertical line representing the P. The words capital and cattle both have the same origin.

Creadit cards are wonderful if you have money to pay for what you buy. If you don’t pay your debt completely, you can have serious problems. In a few years, you could have your own credit card and you should know how to use it. Let’s look at an example. Imgine you go to a mall with your Friends or with your parents and you buy clthes, a new camera and some DVD’s. The total bill is two hundred dollars. You pay with a credit card. The next month, your bank statement arrives. You need to pay your credit card. Imagine you have only one hundred dollars to pay your debt. Now you will have to interest. This means you nowowe more tan one hundred dollars. If you follow this pattern every month, you quickly owe more onterest tan the original expenses! For example, a one hundred dollar debt can become a five hundred dollar debt. You wll never be able to pay back that much money. Many adults ignore the dangers of spending with credit cards and they have terrible debs. Ask in your family if people have (or have had) problems with credit cards. You may be surprised about their experiences.  

The Dangers of Credit Cards

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To sprend safely, you should:Pay the totral debtbefore you use your card again.