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Did you know that over the last 10,000 years, money has changed a lot? It’s gone from cattle and shells to today’s electronic currency. Here are some fun facts about how money has changed!
Trading used to be used for everything. Just like you might trade baseball or other cards with your friends, people used to trade for everything. Farmers might trade their corn to their neighbor the shoemaker for a pair of shoes. This type of trading was called bartering.
The first coins date back all the way to 700 B.C. They were used by a group of people called the Lydians who live in what is known today as Turkey. Do you have any old coins you collect? A coin from 1950 is old to us, but even that coin was made over 2,600 years after the first coins!
The first paper money was used in China around A.D. 800. That was many years before Europeans started using paper banknotes. But, too much paper money was made. After about 500 years of use, paper money disappeared from China for a long time.
It’s amazing to think how much money has changed over the years. Now your parents probably use electronic transactions more than paper money and coins! What do you think money will be like in another 10,000 years?