Bartering was first recorded in
Egypt over 4,500 years ago.
In the past, people have used many different things as money.
Among them: salt, cocoa beans, grain, cows, shark’s teeth, and precious
stones.
The first record of a coin is by Croesus, King of Lydia (now
part of Turkey).
The world’s smallest coin weighed only .002 grams and was from Nepal.
The world’s heaviest coin was from Sweden and weighed 43 pounds 7 1/4
oz.
The writing of many coins is often a type of code to save space.
Coins have a grooved edge because in the past dishonest traders filed
down the edges to remove some of the precious metal. Many
countries print images or writing at the very edge of the coin to
prevent this same dishonest practice.
A banknote is made on special paper; when held up to the light , it
reveals a watermark that looks like a picture.
A security thread is enclosed in the paper used for currency; this
makes copying more difficult for counterfeiters.
The world’s smallest banknote, issued in Morocco, was the size of a
postage stamp.The largest check every written was from the American
ambassador to the Indian government for $1,279,187,490.
The wealth required to provide adequate food, water, education, health
and housing for everyone in the world for a whole year is equivalent
tot he amount spent on arms every two weeks worldwide.
There are 138 stock exchanges in
the world.
|
Money
Coins
Barter
Trade
Banks
Stock Exchanges
|
The largest bank note was the
Chinese 1 Kwan, printed in the 14th century, measuring 9 X 13 inches.
More money is spent on arms in the world than on education, health, or
any other form of development.
The cost of the 10-years campaign to eradicate smallpox worldwide was
less than three hours spending on arms worldwide.
The world’s worst inflation was in Hungary in June 1946, when the 1931
gold pengo was valued at 130 million trillion paper pengos.
Half the population of the world earns only 5% of the world’s total
wealth.
|
The first european stock exchange was established in Antwerp, Belgium,
in 1531.
While not all of a person income is taxable in Norway, some people
there pay more than 100% of their taxable income.
The highest recorded personal tax demand is one for $336 million on the
estate of Howard Hughes.
Four of the richest countries in the world with some of the highest
personal income, Bahrain, Brunei, Kuwait, and Qatar, have no tax at all.As a check is only an instruction to a bank, it can be written on
anything. In the past people have written checks on such things
as stone slabs, bananas and cows.
Many countries have a central bank to keep watch on private
banks.
|
Taxes
Gold
|
The central bank in Germany is the Deutswche Bundesbank. The
central bank in the United Kingdom is the Bank of England. The
central bank in the united States is the Federal reserve System.
The Banc’ Eireann is a bank on wheels providing a service for far-flung
customers in rural southern Ireland.
Most of the earliest banks were started by goldsmiths, who had safes
for their gold. People then paid to keep their own valuables in the
goldsmith’s safes.
|
