May 31, 2023

Money

Throughout history, people have used many forms of money, such as soap, cocoa beans, tobacco, tea, grain, animal skins, and bear teeth.

Cattle was the first and oldest form of money. In parts of Africa, cows were used as money until the mid-1900s. Each head of cattle was called a caput, which is Latin for "head." So, a person with a lot of cattle had lots of caput or "capital," a word still used today to describe money.

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Today's Random Fact:

The Romans made their coins in the temple of Juno Moneta, the goddess of marriage and women. From the name Moneta, we get our words "mint" and "money."

The Romans were the first to stamp the image of a living person on a coin. After winning in war, Julius Caesar featured his portrait on a coin in 44 B.C.

The Chinese invented paper money in the 9th century A.D. Its original name was "flying money" because it could easily blow away in the wind. However they used it just briefly. The first time paper currency was consistently used was in the 18th century by the French.

Bonus Fact:

The U.S. Secret Service was originally created on July 5, 1865, during the Civil War to fight counterfeiting, which was a huge problem. By the end of the war, between 1/3 and 1/2 of all U.S. paper currency in circulation was counterfeit.

Most of the money in the world today is fiat money, or money that is not backed by gold or other metals. The term fiat comes from the Latin for "let it be done." It is money that is accepted simply because a government declares it official money.

Credit cards were first used in the 1920s. Hotels were the first to offer cards to their customers to pay for their hotel stays. Soon department stores and gas companies offered their own cards. All these cards, however, could be used only at the business that issued them. Then Diner Card arrived in 1950s and could be used at different restaurants and hotels. In 1951, some banks began issuing credit cards that could be used at different places.