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| Can you imagine having to lug around a one hundred pound, ten foot chunk of stone as money? The people of Yap, an ancient island, did have to do that! Of course, that was several thousand years ago(no, not when your |
| parents were little). And even before that(wow), and awhile after, people used the barter system. The pilgrims, ancient Egyptians(again, not your parents), Indians, and just about everybody used it before money was made. |
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| Why did they replace the barter system you ask? well, the reason they |
| replaced the barter system is because barter system means to trade an item or service for an other item or service in return. The something in return |
| part was the most challenging, because, sometimes, people did not have a set value for things, people did not know what to give in return for |
| something. Back then, some people thought that a skin pouch was worth more than a monkey, and some people thought the other way around. |
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| There was mass confusion about what to give people in return for things,so a group of people decided on a medium of exchange, or a form of currency that everyone agreed on. The first currencies were of beads called |
| Wampum, and stones. The first coins to be printed out of a mint was recorded back in ancient Greece. Paper money originated in China, because |
| people got tired of carrying around tons of coins everyday, so store owners gave out slips of paper with a certain amount on it, in exchange for keeping that person`s coins in one spot. |
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