Money

hings you may not know about the history of money.

1. China created the world’s first paper money.
Nearly 700 years before Sweden issued the first European banknotes in 1661, China released the first generally circulating currency. In fact, usage of paper notes dates backs even earlier, to the 7th century Tang Dynasty. For centuries copper coins had been China’s primary currency. In order to carry large amounts of cash, people hefted around an ever-increasing number of these coins–not the easiest, or safest, thing to do over long distances.

2. The Inca built a great empire—without the use of money at all.
Unlike the neighboring Aztecs or Mayas, who used goods such as beans and textiles to buy and sell products, there was no concept of “money” among the Inca. So, how did they manage to create the largest—and wealthiest—empire in South America? Through a highly regimented system known as the “Mit’a.” which linked the empire together and allowed for its ongoing expansion. In return, the government provided all the basic necessities of life; food, clothing, tools, housing, etc.

3. Medieval merchants developed an early version of the credit card.
In an era when currency was often unavailable (and few people were literate), the tally stick, a forerunner of today’s high-tech credit cards, became increasingly popular in Europe. In this early version of financial record keeping, notches were made on a wooden stick to indicate the amount lent—and owed. The sticks were then split down the middle; the creditor kept one half and the debtor the other. When a payment was made, the sticks were paired up, and the payment was marked on the stick.

4. Czarist Russia created a tax payable only in animal fur.
The arrival of Russian hunters and trappers in what was then the remote wilderness of Siberia in the 1600s kicked off a “fur rush” that many historians have compared to the later California gold rush in its intensity. At the height of the Russian fur trade these pelts had became so valuable that they were called “soft gold” and accepted as hard currency throughout the empire. By some estimates, they accounted for more than 10 percent of Russia’s total revenue.

5. Paul Revere played a key role in the creation of early American currency.
Revere, famed for his 1775 “midnight ride” to warn American colonists of an impending British invasion, was actually far more famous in his day for his work as an engraver and as one of the colonies’ premiere silversmiths. Just months after his exploits near Concord, it was Revere who was tasked with designing the engraving plates for the first Continental currency, or Continentals, produced by Massachusetts to fund the war.

6. The first gold rush in American history took place in North Carolina, not California.
In 1799, the 12-year old son of a Cabarrus County farmer named John Reed discovered a gold nugget weighing an estimated 17 pounds, so large that his family used it as doorstop. When more gold was discovered in neighboring counties, it kicked off the first prospecting boom in American history, drawing thousands of people to the area, many of them newly arrived immigrants.

7. Counterfeiting was rampant during the American Civil War.
Money tampering has been around nearly as long as money itself has existed. Early coins were shaved around the edges, with the perpetrator pocketing the excess precious metals. Rome, among other ancient civilizations, made counterfeiting a crime punishable by death. The U.S. government struggled with the issue from its inception, going so far as to hire an ex-counterfeiter to design some of its first coins. Despite these efforts, the problem continued, likely reaching its apex during the American Civil War.

8. West Point Mint was “the Fort Knox of silver” and has a whole lot of gold.
When most people think of vast amounts of precious metals tucked away in secure locations, it’s Fort Knox that comes to mind. Few people know that a tiny facility in New York State once rivaled Knox in the wealth department, and was home to the largest concentration of silver in the United States. Opened in 1937 and originally known as the West Point Bullion Depository, the Mint is located just miles from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.