THE INVENTION OF MONEY and the Reasons for its Emergence

History Of Money

Money is anything that is commonly accepted by a group of people for the exchange of goods, services or resources. Every country has its own system of coins and paper money.

Bartering and Commodity Money

In the beginning, people bartered. Bartering is the exchange of a good or service for another good or service. For example, a bag of rice for a bag of beans. However, what if you couldn’t agree what something was worth in exchange or you didn’t want what the other person had?

A commodity is a basic item used by almost everyone. In the past, items such as salt, tea, tobacco, cattle and seeds were commodities and therefore were once used as money. However, using commodities as money had other problems. Carrying bags of salt and other commodities was hard and commodities were difficult to store or were perishable.

Representative Money

With the introduction of paper currency and non-precious coinage, commodity money evolved into representative money. This meant that what money itself was made of no longer had to be very valuable.

For example, the old British Pound bill or Pound Sterling was once guaranteed to be redeemable for a pound of sterling silver.

For most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the majority of currencies were based on representative money through the use of the gold standard.

Who Found the Money? Lydians and the Invention of Money

Overcoming the limitations of bartering has been a challenging problem for humanity. However, every difficulty paves the way for the birth of a new invention, a new idea. And the answer to this question was hidden in the heart of Anatolian lands, in the intelligence and innovation of the Lydians. So who found the money ? The answer to this question is a fact written in golden letters in history books: Lydians.

What was the first money invented by the Lydians called?

Lydians are known as the civilization that produced the first known coin in history. The material of these coins was "electron", an alloy of gold and silver. The first money invented by the Lydians was called "electron", and these coins had a certain value thanks to both their precious metal content and the seals printed on them.

When Did the Lydians Find Money and Why Did They Need It?

Lydians, B.C. They invented coins in the 7th century. So why? Lydia was located at the crossroads of trade routes. The barter system had become insufficient in this intense trade traffic. Based on these needs, the Lydians realized that they needed a medium of exchange that would be accepted by everyone and whose value was certain - that is, money.
However, it should be noted that this invention did not arise only from a practical need. This innovation of the Lydians was also a result of the social, economic and technological developments of that period. The "Lydians" answer to the question of who first discovered money is an indication not only of an invention but also of the peak of a civilization.