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2500 BCE
4,000 to 2,600 years ago
Around 2,500 BC Ancient Egyptians were making metal rings which some historians think they used as money. -
1100 BCE
A new system
By 1100 BC in China, a system of using miniature replicas of the objects to be tradedwere used instead of the objects themselves. -
Period: 700 BCE to 600 BCE
The first coins
In Lydia (now Western Turkey) between 700 and 600 BC the first coins were made. They were made of discs of electrum (a natural mix of silver and gold) and stamped with pictures to show their value. -
Period: 700 BCE to 600 BCE
Who made the first gold coin?
The first known gold coin was minted by the Lydian king Croesus. -
Period: 700 BCE to 600 BCE
The first paper money
Around the same time in China the first paper money was being used. -
750
King Croesus
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400 to 200 years ago
By 1600 AD Europeans were using more and more metal coins, made with metal taken from their colonies. -
400 to 200 years ago
In 1685 Canadian colonies began to use paper money too and this innovation led to huge increase in international trade. -
400 to 200 years ago
In 1700, a Spanish eight real coin was often split up into bits to pay for things, leaving the bits as change. "Bit" was an English term for a small coin adn was still used until very recently. -
Period: to
Money today
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 paying with credit cards. They then pay the money back later. -
Money today
