Money in different forms

Over the years, people have used different forms of money as a way to trade or save.

Seashells

Generally, people think the first form of money was seashells. Shells were used about 3,000 years ago in some East Asian countries like China and some countries in Africa. Shells were considered a good choice because they were easy to carry, similar in size and lasted a long time.

Coins                       

Then, people developed skills for making metal things, and metal coins appeared. Metal coins were made of bronze, iron, gold or silver. The earliest metal coins were gold coins from Lydia, which were used around 600 BCE. Coins had different shapes. For example, in ancient China, people had daobi (knife coins), fangkongqian (round coins with a square hole in the centre), etc.

Paper money

The first known paper money appeared in China during the Song dynasty, which is called jiaozi. The paper was a promise to pay a certain amount of money. Six centuries later (in the 1600s), banks in Europe started to give out paper money. Paper money became common in almost all currencies, and it is still widely used.                   

Digital money

These days, people are used to paying for things electronically. Now many countries are developing digital currencies. Money is used in a new form.