WHAT IS MONEY?

Money is generally accepted mean of payment. But money was not always the same form as the money today, and is still developing. The use of money is as old as the human civilisation. In this essay we will go into the money of the past, present and future. WHAT FORMS OF PAYMENT WAS USED BEFORE THE COINAGE SYSTEM?

What is bartering?

Barter is the exchange of resources or services, when the both sides of bartering are satisfied. For example, an apple grower who needs shoes simply has to find a cobbler. In a pure barter system the apple grower would have to find not just any cobbler but one who wants apples at that time. The most important improvement of early barter was first the tendency to select one or two particular items in preference to others. These preferred barter items became partly accepted because of their qualities in acting as media of exchange. Of course, they still could be used for their primary purpose of directly satisfying the wants of the traders concerned. These preferred items were for example seashells or cowries, beads, tea, fish hooks, fur, cattle and even tobacco, amber, drums, eggs, feathers, gongs, hoes, ivory, jade, kettles, leather, mats, nails, oxen, pigs, quartz, rice, salt, thimbles, vodka, wampum, yarns, and zappozats (decorated axes).
Bartering may date back to the beginning of humankind. Barter among humans certainly pre-dates the use of money. Today individuals, organisations, and governments still use, and often prefer, barter as a form of exchange of goods and services.

What products were used as money?

In 9000 - 6000 BC particularly cattle, and plant products such as grain, came to be used as money in many different societies at different periods. Cattle are probably the oldest of all forms of money and were still used for that purpose in parts of Africa in the middle of the 20th century. Obviously there were very practical reasons for the association between cattle and wealth but anthropological evidence from Africa in very recent times shows that when cattle are regarded as a form of money, not only health cattle but also scrawny ones will be valued to the detriment of the environment supporting them and their owners.

What was the system of transacting in Mesopotamia when the writing was invented?

The main use, and probable motivation for development of writing, is for keeping accounts. The coinage was an abstract instrument, the value of which was derived from a physical merchandise.