An important and integral tool of modern society is money passing through a huge number of hands. The average man, treating them as a means of calculation, does not even think that he involuntarily touches history. In this article we will consider the most interesting facts about money.
Interesting about money: how it all began
The very first coins from an alloy of silver and gold (called an electron) appeared in Libya in the 7th century BC. e. The first paper money was introduced in China due to a lack of raw materials for the manufacture of copper coins. The amazing fact about money: paper bills were originally used in burial ceremonies of the deceased. They were burned at bonfires near the grave, believing that in this way they would fall into another world, where they would greatly facilitate the life of the departed to the next world.
In mass use paper money appeared much later. The greed of the rulers and the understanding of the possibility of printing an immense number of pieces of paper with a picture led to their depreciation; the value of candy wrappers decreased by almost 70 times, which forced the coppers to re-enter.
China is a country of romantics
The amazing fact about money: in modern China, paper bills are a great way to find your other half. To do this, the girls and boys who are in search write their data and the desired requirements for the partner on them, and then put the money into circulation. Unfortunately, the most demanded pieces of paper in the world are also the dirtiest notes, numbering on their surface about hundreds of thousands of microbes.
First money
There are such interesting facts about money: in ancient times, items of the highest value at the time of his era were used for settlement operations: stones, shells, bird feathers, dog teeth, pork tails, dried fish, glass beads, cocoa beans, tea tiles, tobacco, grains of corn and rice, livestock. In ancient Rus, when trading with eastern countries, marten skins were used (which was the name of the kuna coin), in China - pieces of silk, and in Asia - opium.
With the development of civilizations, commodity barter became more uncomfortable, then the exchange of products began to be made on copper coins.
History of the origin of round coins
What other interesting facts about money exist? Modern coins have a familiar round shape. However, this was not always the case. During excavations in ancient Greece, thin strange rods were found, similar in weight and size. They were also depicted on the frescoes of the past period, and, as scientists have established, these were just ancient Greek coins. The knitting of such coins had a certain value, fit tightly in the palm of your hand and had the name "drachma", which has come down to this day.
The familiar round shape of the coins came from Ancient Rome, where they were printed in the temple of Juno. First, images of goddesses were minted on them, which over time changed to images of emperors - the great ones and who contributed to the development of their country.
Images of living rulers were not accepted, although Alexander the Great did not consider this a bad sign, ordering to mint their own image on money.
Russia: its own history of money
In Russia, as in other countries, before the advent of paper money, there were ordinary coins in use. The history of Russia has preserved many amazing facts about money. Here is one of them: when Lomonosov was paid a bonus of 2,000 rubles, he needed to hire workers with carts to transport her, because the total weight of the remuneration was approximately 1 ton.
An interesting story is the origin of the familiar word "penny." In ancient times, minted coins with a denomination of less than a ruble depicted George the Victorious with a spear in his hand. Such money, at the behest of Ivan the Terrible, began to be called lance, and then acquired the usual name. A penny today is considered the smallest coin in its value, but under Peter I there was a coin of a smaller denomination. It was equal to 1/8 penny, weighed 0.17 grams and was called a half-crib. The largest coin (copper ruble) weighing 1,636 kg was issued in 1725 during the time of Catherine I. There is such an amazing fact about the money that in Sweden the heaviest coin weighed 19 kilograms and was issued in the 18th century. It had a rectangular shape, and royal prints were placed in the corners of it.
Million dollars how much weigh?
Almost every person at least once imagined himself the owner of a million dollars. So, amazing facts about money suggest that if future wealth is put on the scales, then in hundred-dollar bills its weight will be 10 kilograms, and in one-cent coins - 246 tons. And if you gradually accumulate coins, which is what almost all the children of our planet do, then you can pour the bells of the world, as was done by Japanese children. One of them is installed in New York.
The most amazing fact about money is its uselessness. In 1923, in Germany, during the period of hyperinflation, money completely lost its value and cost so little that they glued walls instead of wallpaper or gave them to children for games.
10 interesting facts about money
- For the production of paper money, flax and cotton are used in a ratio of 1: 3, which determines the strength of the product, capable of withstanding 400 double bends.
- About 1/3 of the world's population lives on less than $ 2 a day, more than a billion people spend less than $ 1 a day.
- In Canada, the first bills were playing cards. And in Russia at the beginning of the 19th century, money made from the skin of seals was released and circulated until 1826.
- In the world in circulation, according to rough estimates, is about 845 billion dollars.
- The first woman depicted on the money, and one of a kind, is Martha Washington, whose portrait adorns a $ 1 silver coin .
- Facts about money claim that the average life of a $ 100 bill is 7 years and 4 months.
- A plastic credit card was invented in 1949 by Frank McNamara during a dinner at a restaurant. The idea of not having large amounts of cash with you, but replacing them with a card, came to mind when Frank did not have enough cash to pay for dinner.
- The most unusual name was the Venetian coin, dated to the 16th century - "newspaper". Familiar prints became so called an order of magnitude later. The cost of the first newsprints printed on paper was equated to one newspaper.
- The largest banknote was a banknote with a face value of $ 100,000. They released it in 1934 for the purpose of use in large banking operations. By the way, the $ sign was invented by Oliver Pollock in 1788. In the US, the most popular are 1- and 20-dollar bills, in the rest of the world they prefer $ 100. The most common franc in the world is used in 34 countries.
- There is the following surprising fact about money: outdated and obsolete banknotes in Russia serve as raw materials for the manufacture of roofing material, and in Germany they produce fertilizers.
Such interesting facts about money give reason to think about the unusual and multifaceted history of the means of calculation familiar to everyone.