It is difficult enough to speak clearly about where and when exactly the first money appeared. The emergence of money was not the result of a long development of socio-political relations of human societies in different parts of the world. Moreover, in different historical periods. At the dawn of mankind, the concept of "money" simply did not exist. The emergence of money is associated with a later time. Then, in primitive societies, people practiced a simple exchange of household items and valuable things, such as jugs, furs,
arrowheads and so on. However, such a natural exchange is very inconvenient, because the value of various things or food is always different.
The emergence and development of money
Actually, with the gradual development of natural commodity exchange, the first objects appear that have their own value and are a certain equivalent to the value of any thing. This was the first money. The emergence of money by today's historians is associated primarily with bullion or fragments of precious metals. They did not yet have a definite form, but they amounted to a collateral value that could already be counted on any product. This development pushed people to the next logical move. Certain objects, goods or animals have become a new form of money. So, in Ethiopia, the population was calculated by bars of salt, in India, kauri shells were used for exchange , the Aztec tribes even
used
cocoa beans. Such things were not money in the full sense of the word, but anticipated their occurrence. And the
essence of money becomes obvious: they must be the universal equivalent of exchange, which can measure any potential product.
Money requirements
At the same time, the elements of any monetary system must meet a certain set of rules: they must not deteriorate from the constant transfer from hand to hand, as well as over time; they should be light and mobile for constant carrying; they should be divided in case you need to pay less (for example, the name of the modern Russian currency is “ruble” and comes from the process when large coins were cut into smaller ones).
The advent of financial systems
All these requirements are best met just by metal products, which in ancient times began to take on specific and specific forms. For example, it is well known that in the 7th century BC, such money already existed in Lydia. At the same time, the emergence of money cannot be clearly attributed to a specific region and time. The first coins, reminiscent of modern ones in their form, appeared in China. However, there they had a hole in the center of the disk, because they were conveniently placed on a rope worn around the neck. Like the Chinese tradition, medieval Slavs cut pieces from the copper and silver neck hoops and paid for them. And since the hoops were worn on the scruff of the neck, the fragments were also called “hryvnias,” which later went over to the coins of the Kiev princes.