A Brief History of Money.
Posted: Thursday, May 19, 2011
by Terrence Aubrey
Terrence
How often during your average day does the topic of money enter your thoughts? For many people money is only second to sex as a persistent and mantra like re-occurring topic.
Now a few questions for you, do you know how long the human race has enjoyed (or not) the use of money, do you know how life went on before some very smart guy came up with the idea of devising the very first monetary system and last, but not least, do you think money is the saviour or tormentor of mankind?
How did life function without money you may well be wondering. Well globalisation had not kicked in back then, well actually half of the globe was still awaiting discovery, (so at best globalisation would have been a very half hearted affair), no they used a form of exchange, I will give you a pig if you come and fix my roof. Barter, a system that actually worked very well, but only up to a point, what happened if you needed the skill or help from someone, but actually did not possess anything that this person wanted…….a problem.
So someone had a good and simple idea and devised an interchangeable medium, now some twelve hundred years ago that might well have been any metal not subject to oxidisation, yes they had even considered the deflationary risks that oxidising metals might pose so they chose silver, bronze or horse dung, I am not sure which, but without a doubt a brilliant idea, if you had nothing to offer that the person whose skills or products you needed and wanted you could offer him as a fair form of exchange a bag of horse dung.
This worked very well for quite a while, but then some astute individual thought to himself what if I were to open a horse dung shop, people could deposit and bank their horse dung, I can take part of it, for services rendered and in return help facilitate amicable exchanges.
Now all of those years ago this profession did not enjoy either high social status or great fondness, they were regarded in fact as an unpleasant and rather smelly necessity, this was due in part to the fact that these places did not smell at all pleasant. So there we have it, the beginnings of money and the gradual decline of the system of barter than had up until this time served mankind well.
Now theoretically this was a really great and really useful idea and very soon the bags of horse dung were replaced by something more mananagable and more in accordance with the growing stature of these middle men, they started to use more frequently these bits of metal, metal that was not so easy to find, some yellow some silver, some bronze.
Well things worked out really well for hundreds of years, but then slowly and insidiously the rot set in. I need the wall of my house fixed said a man from Portugal to his neighbour, no problem, said the neighbour I will start next week, actually I need some help with my vegetable patch, we will make an exchange, yes?
Nope said his neighbour, I will give you some bronze metal, I have no time for vegetable patches I am very clever, I can kick round things really well, oh said the neighbour to Ronaldo (as that was his name), I see. Actually said Ronaldo to his neighbour, only I need to fix this wall so that I may sell this house and he pointed to a not so distant hill. I am going to build a house ten times bigger than this one on top of that hill. Oh I see said the neighbour, but excuse me for asking, but why do you need a shelter ten times bigger when you live alone? Because I can kick a round thing better than anyone else, he replied. I see said the neighbour, not in truth understanding at all.
Gradually a division and a separation developed and the seemingly great idea of this money, this replacement of exchange began to seem less of a good idea. Gradually some people began saying that their time and efforts were worth one thousand times more than other peoples……
I can kick, smash, poke and bat round things really well, I can pretend to be somebody else, I can entertain people. The list grew and grew and slowly the man that could actually do something really useful like fix a falling down wall found that he was no longer valued, that he had to work harder and harder to feed his family and where did he find work?
He was building palaces and mansions for people that for reasons that he could never quite understand possessed this money way, way in excess of him and the man that began with the bags of horse dung? He had the grandest Mansion of them all……..So there you have it a brief and fastidiously imprecise history of money. Terrence Aubrey, Confidential Matchmakers
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)Yeah Terrence, I wish we could do away with money. People working and living for their fellow man and not for the money. I know I'm a dreamer aren't INo David you are not a dreamer, but a noble man, only I wish more people shared your outlook upon life. I for one do.
That's a nice little synopsis of the history of greed..err, money.Yep, funny money. I could not help but notice that the world did not end yesterday, at least not the small part of it I can see from my window.............
Great history lesson and very entertaining as always Terrence.Thank you Brianna
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