Page 57 - Reading Success B7

The various forms money has taken over time can tell us much about its nature and
the history of its use. Some forms are familiar to us today like coins and paper money, but
their origins are not as simple as we might think. The earliest metal coins came from
China. Small pieces of bronze were used to trade things starting around 1500 BC. Around
650 BC, coins with guarantee were invented in Lydia, a part of West Asia. These coins
need not be weighed before they are accepted because they are marked with a promise

by a government that the coin is worth what it says it is worth. Guarantee coins were
mainly used to pay mercenary soldiers. Soon these coins spread all over Europe, Asia,
and Africa. However, some governments that minted these coins like the Romans figured
out that they could make more coins with the same amount of metal by mixing the gold
with more silver or by mixing the silver with more bronze. When people discovered this
deception, many refused to accept the coins and just kept on trading one thing for another
while others demanded more of the coins until they have the same amount of gold or
silver as before. Paper money was also first used in China around 1150 AD. It was a
promise to pay gold or silver or bronze in exchange for the piece of paper. It wasn’t long

before people in West Asia and Europe began to use letters of credit as a substitute for
money. The letters were issued by a bank and could be exchanged for money at other
banks. Travelers preferred these letters of credit rather than going around with bags of
money. Even today, many people use credit cards instead of cash.

On the other hand, some forms of money are unfamiliar like the cowry shells used at
about 1200 BC in China, which became the very first medium of exchange and has

served as money throughout history even until the middle of this century. Chinese leather
money made from one foot square pieces of white deerskin framed in bright colors might
also strike us as strange. Meanwhile, other forms of money might look familiar but
would be difficult for us to believe, such as cattle and crops, which are the oldest forms of
money and which were used in many different societies at different periods of time. The
Britons, for a time, exchanged their swords for goods while other societies used their axes
as money. However, perhaps the strangest of all forms of payment emerged during the
ninth century in Ireland. The Danes in Ireland slit the nose of people who did not pay the
Danish poll tax. Hence, they paid through their nose.

Main Idea

What is the main idea of this story?

a. how credit systems were developed

b. some of the different forms money has taken throughout history
c. how money was developed in China

d. how money is made

60_Reading Success B 7