Decadent Facts About The History Of Money
“Money often costs too much".—Ralph Waldo Emerson
Does cash really rule everything around us? Whether a spender or vendor is partial to debit, credit, or the sweet feeling of cold hard cash, the very idea of “money” shapes nearly every social interaction—it can literally even be a matter of life or end. And yet it’s distasteful to admit this truth in public. How much cash does one have? How much cash does one want? How much cash does one need to live right at this moment? The taboo surrounding money-talk speaks to its sacred place in modern society.
Yet what counts as “money” has proven remarkably flexible. Throughout human history, cash has come in all different shapes and sizes (that is, if the society hasn’t done away with cash completely…). From tales of snail shells to telegraphed e-bills, enjoy these 45 cost-free facts about the history of money and finance.
45. Will Work for Everything
The concept of “money” is by no means universal. Take the Inca, a society where men would exchange their labor for government-provided services—but without the intermediary of gold or bills. Public palaces and roads centralized the society together, providing the necessities of food, clothing, and tolls in exchange for service to said institution. It’s not that Inca did not value gold or silvers—it’s just that the “sweat of the sun” (gold) and “tears of the moon” (silver) held more of a religious purpose than an economic one.
44. Dirty Dough
It’s estimated about 90% of American currency contains traces of substances. And if that weren’t gross enough, the Southern Medical Journal discovered fecal matter on 94% of tested US bills. In summary, your mom was right about washing your hands before handling cash!
43. Stick It to The Bank
England’s earliest credit cards date back to the Middle Ages, when “credit” was literally a system of broken sticks. If someone incurred a debt with another party, they would place notches in a stick to keep track of the amount owed—and then snap it, debtor and creditor each taking a half. When the debt was settled, they would tie the sticks together and mark the tool as “paid". This resulted in a tally system that lasted for more than 700 years.
Wikipedia
42. Talk About Burning a Hole in Your Pocket…
Eventually, in 1826, the “stick tally credit card” system of debt recording was completely abolished. This seems like a good idea, but not all the results were positive. A few years later, someone had the bright idea to burn the leftover tally sticks all at once inside a furnace beneath the House of Lords. The result was historically explosive, and it caused the worst fire the city had seen since the Great Fire of London in 1666.
