History of money

To say exactly when the history of money began is very problematic. In primitive times such a concept and the corresponding phenomenon did not exist. Relations, similar to money, arose much later, together with the beginning of the process of exchange between people.

The history of money is directly related to the process of exchange and change of ownership. At the earliest stage, such an exchange, which we can now regard as a prototype of monetary relations, was of an accidental nature. At this stage, the commodity expressed its value by means of another, equivalent commodity equivalent to it. They could be objects, food or animals. For example, the Aztecs used cocoa beans as money. To this stage there corresponded a random or simple form of ownership.

The history of money has passed several successive stages. The formation of agricultural and pastoral tribes contributed to the fact that the exchange of goods passed into regular form, and the random form of ownership was replaced by a complete one. This form differed from the previous one in that a lot of goods participated in the exchange, which could be exchanged for different equivalent goods.

The exchange became more developed. However, at this stage, the value of each individual product has not yet received a complete expression, because the number of equivalent goods was uncertain. The cost had a rather heterogeneous expression. Therefore, gradually began to be allocated goods, which at that time in the market began to be used to express the unit of value. Gradually, one product was singled out, which assumed the role of a universal equivalent. At this stage, a monetary form of ownership arose. At this time, the history of money development began in the modern sense of the term.

In essence, money has a commodity nature, but they can not be called an ordinary commodity. It is very specific, since it fulfills the constant role of the universal equivalent. Any product can satisfy any one human need and has a unit value for its consumer. Money also has a universal value (that is, it can be exchanged for any other). This property of money is called liquidity.

The universal equivalent (money) had to meet several mandatory requirements: it should not deteriorate during storage, it could easily be carried with it, it should be divisible without loss of general value.

The history of creating money on a metal basis begins with the appearance of metal. First put into circulation gold and silver coins were made of precious metals. The first coins appeared in Lydia in the 7th century BC. Then they were made in Greece, Asia Minor and Italy. The most valuable were gold coins.

In Russia coinage was started in 9-10 centuries. The name "money" originated from the Tatar silver coin, which was called "tenga". Since the silver bars used as money, if necessary, were cut into pieces (they were delimas), then they began to be called subsequently "ruble".

But full metal coins, when their value coincides with their real value, are very expensive. The extraction of metals has ceased to keep pace with the development of economic relations. The solution to the problem was inherent in the very nature of money. Gradually, full-value metal money began to be replaced by signs of value. That is, the quantity of precious metals in coins began to decrease, while their nominal value remained the same.

As a result of this process, the metal money was completely replaced by functional money in the form of money from cheaper non-precious metals. In the end, money was made from paper. They were first introduced into circulation by the Chinese in the 9th century. In Europe, they began circulating in paper form from about the 15th century, completely replacing real money out of circulation. In Russia, the history of paper money began in the 18th century, they were called bank notes.