c 9000 - 6000 BC

Domestication of cattle and cultivation of crops

Subsequently both livestock, particularly cattle, and plant products such as grain, come to be used as money in many different societies at different periods. Cattle are probably the oldest of all forms of money, as domestication of animals tended to precede the cultivation of crops, and were still used for that purpose in parts of Africa in the 20th century.

c. 30 AD

Christ drives the money changers out of the Temple in Jerusalem

Jesus overturns the money changers' tables. To gentiles the practice of money changers conducting their business in and around temples and other public buildings would have seemed commonplace. The Greek bankers or trapezitai derived their name from their tables just as the English word bank comes from the Italian banca for bench or counter.

54- 68 AD

Reign of Nero

Nero slightly debases the gold and silver coinages, a practice copied by some later emperors, starting mild but prolonged inflation.

250 AD

Silver content of Roman coins is down to 40%

After this level is reached inflation accelerates.

270 AD

Silver content of Roman coins has fallen to only 4%

260 - 268 AD

Reign of Gallienus

During his reign there is a temporary breakdown of the Roman banking system after the banks reject the flakes of copper produced by his mints.

270 - 275 AD

Reign of Aurelian

Aurelian issues new, nearly pure coins, using gold from his eastern conquests, but raises their nominal value by 2½ times hoping in this way to stay ahead of inflation. However this "reform" sends inflation soaring. A rebellion by mint workers led by Felicissimus costs Aurelian's army some 7,000 casualties.

284 - 305

Reign of Diocletian

Diocletian makes vigorous attempts to get to grips with the problem of inflation using a variety of methods but these prove only partially effective at best.

295

Diocletian reforms the coinage

This fails to halt inflation, probably because the older coins remain in use and, in accordance with Gresham's law, drive the good coins out of circulation.

301

Diocletian issues the Edict of Prices

The Edict introduces direct controls of prices and also wage rates. This, too, is defeated by market forces.

305

Diocletian abdicates voluntarily

Although his currency reform and prices and incomes policy failed, his other reforms of the Roman administration, including the world's first system of annual budgets, are more successful.

306 - 337

Constantine secures control over the West then the whole Empire

Constantine issues a new gold coin, the Solidus, which continues to be produced in the Eastern Roman Empire unchanged in weight or purity for the next 700 years.

Coins are minted again in England by Bishop Liudard

The minting of coins in Britain had been abandoned after about 435 as a result of the Anglo-Saxon invasions. Bishop Liudard came over from France with the Merovingian Princess Bertha who married Prince Aethelbart who later, in 590, becomes King of Kent.

620-625

Sutton Hoo ceremonial Saxon burial ship

Among the various treasures on board, are 37 Merovingian gold coins, but no English coins.

c. 630-c. 650

Crondall hoard of coins

A hoard of 101 gold coins, most of which were minted in England, is buried at Crondall in Hampshire. The precise date is not certain.

1348-1350

The Black Death ravages Europe

This is followed by several other outbreaks of plague over the next hundred years, causing a reduction in the size of the population and a collapse in economic growth.

1351

Statute of Labourers

This stipulates the maximum rates of pay in England at pre-plague levels for the main occupations and restricts mobility of labour.

1319-1331

Parts of India and Japan issue paper money

These are short-lived imitations of Chinese currency.

1337 - 1453

Hundred Years War between England and France

In the early stages of the war the net balance of ransom, loot, bounty and plunder favours the English. Later, when the tide began to turn new, unpopular taxes are introduced to finance the English war effort.

1344

The Weight of the Penny is Reduced

To reduce the temptations offered to illegal exporters of coin, the weight of the penny, which has remained almost unchanged for 200 years, is slightly reduced.

1348-1350

The Black Death ravages Europe

This is followed by several other outbreaks of plague over the next hundred years, causing a reduction in the size of the population and a collapse in economic growth.

1351

Statute of Labourers

This stipulates the maximum rates of pay in England at pre-plague levels for the main occupations and restricts mobility of labour.

1351

Another Reduction in the Weight of the Penny

Edward III makes a more substantial reduction than the one he made in 1344.

1351

Restrictions on the Export of English Bullion and Coins

Anxieties over the unofficial drain of gold and silver bullion and coinage to the Continent cause the government to tighten the provisions of the Statute of Stepney 1299, but without much effect.

1352

The Statute of Purveyors

The English parliament is unhappy about the reductions in the weight of the penny and expresses the hope that the king will no more tamper with the coinage than with the standards of weights and measures.

1355

Nicole Oresme's De Origine Natura Jura et Mutationibus Monetarum is published

Oresme, the greatest economic thinker of the Middle Ages, argues that the quantity of precious metal in circulation determines the value of the currency. Later, in 1370, he becomes chaplain and adviser to King Charles V of France.

1356

Battle of Poitiers

King John II of France is captured by the English who demand a ransom of 3 million crowns (£500,000) but in the end they accept a little less than half the amount. Part of the ransom is used in building Windsor Castle.

1377-1399

Reign of Richard II

In 1377 Richard II imposes an unpopular flat rate poll tax followed by similar taxes in 1379 and 1381.  

1381

The Peasants' Revolt

The uprising, belatedly caused in large part by anger at the poll tax, is suppressed.

1381

Richard Aylesbury opposes ban on the export of bullion

He argues that a legal ban is unnecessary provided total commodity exports at least balance imports.

1401

Bank of Barcelona founded

1403

Charging interest on loans is ruled legal in Florence

Despite the traditional Christian prohibition of usury, Italian banks such as the Lombards, who have agents in the main economic centres of Europe, have been making charges for loans. The lawyer and theologian Lorenzo di Antonio Ridolfi wins a case which legalises interest payments by the Florentine government.

1407

Bank of St George, Genoa, founded

1440

Gutenberg invents the modern printing press

Although Europe already knew of the use of paper money in China, the printing press design is subsequently modified, by Leonardo da Vinci among others, for use in minting coins nearly two centuries before printed banknotes are produced in the West.

1448

Hyperinflation in China

The Ming note nominally worth 1,000 cash has a market value of only three.

1690  Feb 3, The first paper money in America was issued by the colony of Massachusetts. The currency was used to pay soldiers fighting a war against Quebec.      1720  Mar 24, In Paris, banking houses closed in the wake of financial crisis. The "Mississippi Bubble" burst as panicked investors withdrew their money from John Law's bank and Mississippi Company 1775  Jul 25, Maryland issued currency depicting George III trampling the Magna Carta 1786  Jan 8, Nicholas Biddle, head of the first United States bank, was born 1791  Mar 3, The 1st Internal Revenue Act taxed distilled spirits and carriages. 1797  Feb 26, Bank of England issued 1st £1-note. 1848  Mar 1, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, US sculptor, designer (1907 $20 gold piece), was born. 1851-1873 The US minted a 3-cent piece called a trine. 1859-1909 The Indian-head penny was minted over this time. The Indian rupee was the legal tender of Iraq. 1979  Jul 1, The Susan B. Anthony dollar was issued. It was the 1st US coin to honor a woman. It was not widely accepted and production stopped in 1981.

1999

European single currency is created

On 1st January 1999 the Euro becomes the currency of 11 of the member states of the European Union (Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Finland). Therefore Europe enters the 3rd millennium with a new currency.

2002

New Euro coins and notes are introduced by the European Union

These replace the national coinages and banknotes of the countries which adopt the new single European currency.