The history of taxation and money are closely related since the development of currency facilitated the collection of taxes. The history of money is almost as long as the history of man. It goes back thousands of years. Before money was invented, trade relied on barter exchange. This form of exchange required the trading parties to have coincidence of needs or wants. This requirement restricted trade since people had to find someone who had what they wanted and wanted they had. Currency allowed barter to be replaced by a currency system of exchange that was better because it did not require a coincidence of needs and wants.
Currency is a unit that makes exchange or trade easier. Archaeological artefacts and other evidence indicate that the first examples of currency were plain of livestock like goats and sheep. Trade based on swapping livestock for other items started way back as early as 9,000 BC.
Following that early beginning, as permanent agriculture began to be practiced, people began to use grain and other crops as a monetary unit. For example, one trader might ask someone to trade a fur or animal skin for a sack of corn. China played an important role in the early development of monetary units.
By about 1,200 BC, Chinese people began to use cowrie shells for currency. This shell comes from large sea snails, a marine gastropod. Many different people all through history have used this material as currency, even in the twentieth century by various remote tribes. The use of cowrie shell is notable because, unlike agricultural produce, it has zero inherent value by itself.
Around 1,000 BC, at the start of the Metal Age, Chinese people started using metal tools as currency. From that point, it was a short step to using metal coins. They came soon in the following decades.
During the following decades, various metal coins began to be used. They were made from base metals like bronze and iron, not gold or silver. These coins sometime had holes punched through them so that they might be tied for security and easier transport.
Around this same time, in about 600-500 BC, a very similar practice emerged in Lydia, known today as Turkey. Lydia is often pinpointed by archaeologists as the location where monetary coins were invented. Unlike the Chinese coins made from base metal, Lydian coins were made from precious metals such as gold or silver. They had both exchange value and inherent value.
Lydian coins were also stamped or marked with distinct engravings to indicate their ascribed value. In the long history of taxation and money, Lydian coins are considered by many to be the first direct antecedents of the monetary coins we use today.
Currency is a unit that makes exchange or trade easier. Archaeological artefacts and other evidence indicate that the first examples of currency were plain of livestock like goats and sheep. Trade based on swapping livestock for other items started way back as early as 9,000 BC.
Following that early beginning, as permanent agriculture began to be practiced, people began to use grain and other crops as a monetary unit. For example, one trader might ask someone to trade a fur or animal skin for a sack of corn. China played an important role in the early development of monetary units.
By about 1,200 BC, Chinese people began to use cowrie shells for currency. This shell comes from large sea snails, a marine gastropod. Many different people all through history have used this material as currency, even in the twentieth century by various remote tribes. The use of cowrie shell is notable because, unlike agricultural produce, it has zero inherent value by itself.
Around 1,000 BC, at the start of the Metal Age, Chinese people started using metal tools as currency. From that point, it was a short step to using metal coins. They came soon in the following decades.
During the following decades, various metal coins began to be used. They were made from base metals like bronze and iron, not gold or silver. These coins sometime had holes punched through them so that they might be tied for security and easier transport.
Around this same time, in about 600-500 BC, a very similar practice emerged in Lydia, known today as Turkey. Lydia is often pinpointed by archaeologists as the location where monetary coins were invented. Unlike the Chinese coins made from base metal, Lydian coins were made from precious metals such as gold or silver. They had both exchange value and inherent value.
Lydian coins were also stamped or marked with distinct engravings to indicate their ascribed value. In the long history of taxation and money, Lydian coins are considered by many to be the first direct antecedents of the monetary coins we use today.
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