The history of money

At first people bartered, which means they exchanged things they had for things they needed.

People used different things as money: knives and rise in China, cattle in Babylonia, tobacco in America, whale's teeth and shells on the Pacific islands.

The first coins were made in the city of Lydia in Ancient Greece. They were made from a mixture of gold and silver.

The first banknotes (paper money) were made in France in the early 1700s.

But first paper money, as well as the first coins ever, was invented in China. Marco Polo saw it in the 1280s.

Now people carry plastic credit cards instead of cash. With your credit card you can take money from the cash machine.

You can see queens, presidents, famous people, a tiger or an elephant (in India), cows and fruit (in Nigeria), a map (in Norway), schoolchildren (in Taiwan) on their banknotes and coins.

Many countries in Europe now have the same currency - euros.

Great Britain use pounds.

People travelling to other countries usually need to convert their money into the local currency. For that an exchange rate is used.