You go to the corner store and buy a carton of milk and some eggs. You pay and you leave. That's normal, right?
Your parents buy some new clothes for you. They pull a piece of plastic from their wallet, give it to the cashier and that's it.
There was a time when you had to go the farmer for you milk and eggs. The farmer took something he or she needed, maybe some corn that you grew in your fields.
THE EXCHANGE OF PRODUCTS IS CALLED BARTER.
Little by little, primitive money started to appear. People used something of value to pay for a product or service.
Aztecs used Cocoa Beans as Money.
5 Green Chilies = 1 Cocoa Bean
1 Large Tomato = 1 Cocoa Bean
An important Barter or commodity was cattle.
Some commodities or primitive money are: amber, beads, cocoa beans, cowries (large shells), drums, eggs, feathers, gongs, etc.
The word dollar comes from the thaler coins from 16th century Europe.
The $ sign originates from the spanish word Peso, with the vertical line representing the P.
The words capital and cattle both have the same origin.
Banks have always existed, right?, wrong! Banks were invented in Mesopotamia in the Middle East.
Royal temple and palaces were considered secure places to keep the commodities. Temple officials gave out official receipts.
About four thousand years ago, people started using metal as money, but coins did not exist yet. The weight of the pieces of metal determined their value.