where did the first forms of money begin
at least 9000 BC
title: History of banking text: approximately 10,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent, in northern China about 9,500 years ago, about 5,500 years ago in Mexico and approximately 4,500 years ago in the eastern parts of the United States. The history of banking is intertwined with the history of money. Ancient types of money known as grain-money and food cattle-money were used from a time of around at least 9000 BC, as two of the earliest things that could be used for the purposes of barter (Davies). Anatolian obsidian as a raw material for Stone Age tools was being distributed from as early as about title: Money text: was a unit of weight, and relied on the mass of something like 160 grains of barley. The first usage of the term came from Mesopotamia circa 3000 BC. Societies in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Australia used shell money – often, the shells of the cowry ("Cypraea moneta L." or "C. annulus L."). According to Herodotus, the Lydians were the first people to introduce the use of gold and silver coins. It is thought by modern scholars that these first stamped coins were minted around 650–600 BC. The system of commodity money eventually evolved into a system of representative title: Early American currency text: Early American currency Early American currency went through several stages of development during the colonial and post-Revolutionary history of the United States. Because few coins were minted in the thirteen colonies that became the United States, foreign coins like the Spanish dollar were widely circulated. Colonial governments sometimes issued paper money to facilitate economic activities. The British Parliament passed Currency Acts in 1751, 1764, and 1773 that regulated colonial paper money. During the American Revolution, the colonies became independent states. Freed from British monetary regulations, they issued paper money to pay for military expenses. The Continental Congress also issued paper title: History of money text: 11th century. The development of the banknote began in the seventh century, with local issues of paper currency. Its roots were in merchant receipts of deposit during the Tang Dynasty (618–907), as merchants and wholesalers desired to avoid the heavy bulk of copper coinage in large commercial transactions. The issue of credit notes is often for a limited duration, and at some discount to the promised amount later. The jiaozi nevertheless did not replace coins during the Song Dynasty; paper money was used alongside the coins. The central government soon observed the economic advantages of printing paper money, issuing a title: History of money text: Lydia in Asia Minor somewhere around the year 600 BCE and that spread throughout Greece in the following centuries: disk-shaped, made of gold, silver, bronze or imitations thereof, with both sides bearing an image produced by stamping; one side is often a human head. The first ruler in the Mediterranean known to have officially set standards of weight and money was Pheidon. Minting occurred in the late 7th century BCE amongst the Greek cities of Asia Minor, spreading to the Greek islands of the Aegean and to the south of Italy by 500 BCE. The first stamped money (having the