The World History of
Money


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Europe

 

2500 BC The earliest records of payments were written in cuneiform on clay tablets.

 

Pre-Roman Britain The Britons used gold torcs before they started to use their own coins.  This is a picture of a fancy gold torc.

 

Roman Times Coins have been found on the trading route called the silk road from Rome to China. Romans used to barter with these countries below:

 650 BC This is a Lydian coin that was made in 650 BC.  It was one of the earliest coins.

 

336 BC Alexander the Great defeated the Persian Empire within eight years after he became king.  Alexander's face was on his own coins, called silver tetradrachmas.

 

44 BC Julius Caesar was the commander of the roman legions and dictator for life. Some coins of this time illustrate the major events in Caesar's life.    

 

632 The first Islamic coins were struck in the late seventh century.  Islam has a prohibition against human images on their coins so instead Islamic coins bore quotes from the Koran.

 

700 In the eighth century, Anglo-Saxon kings began striking silver coins, also known as pennies.

 

1095 There was a crusade against the Islamic states that controlled the Holy Land. Crusader coins closely imitate Islamic issues.

 

1500 Queen Elizabeth introduced Britain's first machine-made coins.

 

 

1914 The British government made these treasury notes to replace coins in 1914.

 

 

2000 Europe came up with a currency that all of the countries in the European Union can use. It is called the Euro.

 

Present Most of Europe is currently using the Euro and digital money.

 

Future I think that there is going to be digital money in the forms of bytes, and it will be the important new currency of the future.

 

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