History of Money

Money is the medium of exchange of a certain value. We have reached the stage of exchange of this value through a long journey.
Barter: This was the earliest system of exchange of value. People would exchange something they had with other things they needed. For instance, if they had wheat with them, they would exchange it for pulses in a market.
Valuables: Then they began exchanging that was more valuable such as gold, silver etc with things that could be consumed or used such as grains or clothes. This facilitated exchange of large amount of consumables with small amount of things of enduring value. In countries like China even cowries and shell from sea were considered valuable and medium of exchange.
Coins and Notes: As human society became more organized, the kings and rulers began to make coins out of gold and silver. It made them standard of value. Still later the government began issuing currency notes for the value of gold stored in the central bank of the country.
Cheque: Muslim traders are known to have used the cheque or á¹£akk system since the time of Harun Rashid (9th century) of the Abbasid Caliphate. Transporting a paper saqq was more secure than transporting money. In 1717 the Bank of England pioneered the first use of cheque on a pre-printed form. In 1770 the exchange of cheques between banks began in England. In 1830 the cheque book began to be issued by Bank of England.
Credit Cards: The inventor of the first bank issued credit card was John Biggins of the Flatbush National Bank of Brooklyn in New York. In 1946, Biggins invented the “Charge-It” program between bank customers and local merchants. In 1950, the Diners Club issued their credit card in the United States.
Debit Card: The debit card system was invented by Frenchman Roland Moreno in 1974.In this system, the money is transferred directly from giver’s account to receiver’s account.
Future
We are now heading for an age when there would be no credit or debit cards. The money may be transferred from giver’s bank account to receiver’s bank account on a computer system. All that the giver will have to do is to register his fingerprint on a scanner and order the transfer. The confirmation will be done in beeps, blips or flashes. Our minds will imagine the money only in terms of its value.
(Compiled by Maqbool Ahmed Siraj)