| # | Polity | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | Edit | Desc |
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Qing issued paper currency in both Shunzhi and Xianfeng regime. “Although Chinese had begun using paper money during the Song Dynasty, the Ming had halted the practice in the mid-fifteenth century. Thereafter, except for two brief returns to paper currency by the Qing, in the Xunzhi (1644-61) and the Xianfeng (1851-61) reigns, no Chinese government again issued paper currency until the early twentieth century. The private sector moved to fill the void, and during the 100 or so years before the Opium War, several different instruments of currency, such as bank drafts were used to facilitate currency exchange. True paper money began circulating after various banks and money-changing shops issued paper receipts for deposits for silver and copper; these receipts, backed by a 100 percent reserve, soon began circulating as money.”
[1]
[1]: (Eastman 1988, 111) Eastman, Lloyd. 1988. Family, Fields and Ancestors: Constancy and Change in China’s Social and Economic History 1550-1949. Oxford: Oxford University Press. |
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Qing issued paper currency in both Shunzhi and Xianfeng regime. “Although Chinese had begun using paper money during the Song Dynasty, the Ming had halted the practice in the mid-fifteenth century. Thereafter, except for two brief returns to paper currency by the Qing, in the Xunzhi (1644-61) and the Xianfeng (1851-61) reigns, no Chinese government again issued paper currency until the early twentieth century. The private sector moved to fill the void, and during the 100 or so years before the Opium War, several different instruments of currency, such as bank drafts were used to facilitate currency exchange. True paper money began circulating after various banks and money-changing shops issued paper receipts for deposits for silver and copper; these receipts, backed by a 100 percent reserve, soon began circulating as money”
[1]
[1]: (Eastman 1988, 111) Eastman, Lloyd. 1988. Family, Fields and Ancestors: Constancy and Change in China’s Social and Economic History 1550-1949. Oxford: Oxford University Press. |
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The system closest to coinage ever practiced in Mesoamerica was the widespread use of cacao beans and copper axes as media of exchange during the Postclassic.
[1]
[1]: Berdan, Frances F., Marilyn A. Masson, Janine Gasco, and Michael E. Smith. (2003) "An International Economy." In Michael E. Smith and Frances F. Berdan (eds.) The Postclassic Mesoamerican World. Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press, pg. 102. |
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The system closest to coinage ever practiced in Mesoamerica was the widespread use of cacao beans and copper axes as media of exchange during the Postclassic.
[1]
[1]: Berdan, Frances F., Marilyn A. Masson, Janine Gasco, and Michael E. Smith. (2003) "An International Economy." In Michael E. Smith and Frances F. Berdan (eds.) The Postclassic Mesoamerican World. Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press, pg. 102. |
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Raw or manufatured prestige goods -- ceramics, precious stone, feathers, textiles, jewelry, ornaments, etc. (both "articles" like jade and feathers, and "tokens" like shells) -- likely functioned as "primitive money" or "social currency."
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[1]: Piña Chan, Román. (1971). "Preclassic or Formative Pottery and Minor Arts of the Valley of Mexico." In The Handbook of Middle American Indians, vol. 10, ed. G. F. Ekholm, and I. Bernal. Austin: University of Texas Press, pp.157-178. [2]: Sanders, William T., Jeffrey R. Parsons, and Robert S. Santley. (1979) The Basin of Mexico: Ecological Processes in the Evolution of a Civilization. Academic Press, New York, pg. 331-3. [3]: Stoner, Wesley D., Deborah L. Nichols, Bridget A. Alex, and Destiny L. Crider. (2015)"The emergence of Early-Middle Formative exchange patterns in Mesoamerica: A view from Altica in the Teotihuacan Valley." Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 39: 19-35. [4]: Charlton, Thomas H. (1984). "Production and Exchange: Variables in the Evolution of a Civilization." In Kenneth G. Hirth (Ed.) Trade and Exchange in Early Mesoamerica. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, pp.17-42. [5]: Hirth, Kenneth G. (1984). "Early Exchange in Mesoamerica: An Introduction." In Kenneth G. Hirth (Ed.) Trade and Exchange in Early Mesoamerica. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, pp.1-16. |
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Raw or manufatured prestige goods -- ceramics, precious stone, feathers, textiles, jewelry, ornaments, etc. (both "articles" like jade and feathers, and "tokens" like shells) -- likely functioned as "primitive money" or "social currency."
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[1]: Piña Chan, Román. (1971). "Preclassic or Formative Pottery and Minor Arts of the Valley of Mexico." In The Handbook of Middle American Indians, vol. 10, ed. G. F. Ekholm, and I. Bernal. Austin: University of Texas Press, pp.157-178. [2]: Sanders, William T., Jeffrey R. Parsons, and Robert S. Santley. (1979) The Basin of Mexico: Ecological Processes in the Evolution of a Civilization. Academic Press, New York, pg. 331-3. [3]: Stoner, Wesley D., Deborah L. Nichols, Bridget A. Alex, and Destiny L. Crider. (2015)"The emergence of Early-Middle Formative exchange patterns in Mesoamerica: A view from Altica in the Teotihuacan Valley." Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 39: 19-35. [4]: Charlton, Thomas H. (1984). "Production and Exchange: Variables in the Evolution of a Civilization." In Kenneth G. Hirth (Ed.) Trade and Exchange in Early Mesoamerica. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, pp.17-42. [5]: Hirth, Kenneth G. (1984). "Early Exchange in Mesoamerica: An Introduction." In Kenneth G. Hirth (Ed.) Trade and Exchange in Early Mesoamerica. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, pp.1-16. |
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’Needless to say, there was no money (in Diamond’s words, no "abstract, intrinsically valueless medium for appropriating surplus, storing value, and deferring payment or delaying exchange") in precontact Hawai’i’.
[1]
[1]: (Trask 1983, 99) Haunani-Kay Trask. 1983. ’Cultures in Collision: Hawai’i and England, 1778’. Pacific Studies 7 (1): 91-117. |
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’Needless to say, there was no money (in Diamond’s words, no "abstract, intrinsically valueless medium for appropriating surplus, storing value, and deferring payment or delaying exchange") in precontact Hawai’i’.
[1]
[1]: (Trask 1983, 99) Haunani-Kay Trask. 1983. ’Cultures in Collision: Hawai’i and England, 1778’. Pacific Studies 7 (1): 91-117. |
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’Needless to say, there was no money (in Diamond’s words, no "abstract, intrinsically valueless medium for appropriating surplus, storing value, and deferring payment or delaying exchange") in precontact Hawai’i’.
[1]
[1]: (Trask 1983, 99) Haunani-Kay Trask. 1983. ’Cultures in Collision: Hawai’i and England, 1778’. Pacific Studies 7 (1): 91-117. |
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Barter was the normal market exchange mechanism. After the Angkor period, gold coins marked with symbols made their appearance, but until then gold or silver ingots with measured weights functioned as currency (the earliest evidence of the use of bullion in exchange dates from the period of the "Fu-nan").’
[1]
[1]: (Mabbett and Chandler 1995, p.176) |
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Barter was the normal market exchange mechanism. After the Angkor period, gold coins marked with symbols made their appearance, but until then gold or silver ingots with measured weights functioned as currency (the earliest evidence of the use of bullion in exchange dates from the period of the "Fu-nan").’
[1]
[1]: (Mabbett and Chandler 1995, p.176) |
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’Strong evidence against the importance of trade or markets is the absence of money in post-6th-century Cambodia in contrast to Funan which had coinage’
[1]
’Neither is there reference to coinage, although precious metals are mentioned as objects of exchanges among donors and temples. The lack of coinage seems confirmed by the inability of archaeologists or architects excavating and restoring temples to discover any coins which may be dated between the end of the Funan and the post-Angkor period.’
[2]
[1]: (Vickery 1998, 314) [2]: (Vickery 1998, 275) |
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’The Khmer empire never developed a standardized currency, instead using exchange equivalents in gold, silver, rice, cloth, cattle, butter and slaves (Sedov 1978:125), and remained a marginal player in the China-Southeast Asia trade network.’
[1]
’The economy of Angkor, now receiving detailed scholarly attention is somewhat peculiar because, unlike most neighbouring states, the empire never used money of any kind.’
[2]
’Some major differences between the pre-Angkor and Angkor peri- ods include the transfer of the center of power and population from southeast to northwest Cambodia (see map 4); the title pon disap- peared; inscriptions adopted a different format; new names were used for deities; and new words for economic subjects appeared. The system of coinage used in early Cambodia was discontinued; the Angkor period economy was moneyless.’
[3]
[1]: (Stark, Miriam 2010, p. 161) [2]: (Chandler 2008, p.9) [3]: (Miksic 2007, p. 82) |
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’The Khmer empire never developed a standardized currency, instead using exchange equivalents in gold, silver, rice, cloth, cattle, butter and slaves (Sedov 1978:125), and remained a marginal player in the China-Southeast Asia trade network.’
[1]
’The economy of Angkor, now receiving detailed scholarly attention is somewhat peculiar because, unlike most neighbouring states, the empire never used money of any kind.’
[2]
[1]: (Stark, Miriam 2010, p. 161) [2]: (Chandler 2008, p.9) |
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’The Khmer empire never developed a standardized currency, instead using exchange equivalents in gold, silver, rice, cloth, cattle, butter and slaves (Sedov 1978:125), and remained a marginal player in the China-Southeast Asia trade network.’
[1]
’The economy of Angkor, now receiving detailed scholarly attention is somewhat peculiar because, unlike most neighbouring states, the empire never used money of any kind.’
[2]
[1]: (Stark, Miriam 2010, p. 161) [2]: (Chandler 2008, p.9) |
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’The Khmer empire never developed a standardized currency, instead using exchange equivalents in gold, silver, rice, cloth, cattle, butter and slaves (Sedov 1978:125), and remained a marginal player in the China-Southeast Asia trade network.’
[1]
’The economy of Angkor, now receiving detailed scholarly attention is somewhat peculiar because, unlike most neighbouring states, the empire never used money of any kind.’
[2]
[1]: (Stark, Miriam 2010, p. 161) [2]: (Chandler 2008, p.9) |
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According to SCCS variable 17 ’Money (Media of Exchange) and Credit’, ’4’ Foreign coinage or paper currency was present, not ‘1’ ’No media of exchange or money’, ’Domestically used articles as media of exchange’ or ’Tokens of conventional value as media of exchange’ or ’Indigenous coinage or paper currency’. Money was introduced by the colonial administration: ’The impact of these economic changes upon the Trukese was great. Just as under the Germans law and order were made the province of the administration, a step which can be reversed (without chaos) only by a long and intelligently directed course of evolution, so under the Japanese the step to a money economy and dependence upon some categories of imported goods was carried far enough beyond the German beginnings so that it too has become irreversible. While the Trukese were not indoctrinated in the more skilled techniques, such as deep-sea fishing and boat-building, there were many jobs available at manual labor, an ever-increasing flow of trade goods upon which to spend the earnings thereof, and head taxes to assure that those who did not work cut copra. The Trukese began to travel more and more on Japanese boats (many of which they have now taken over and operate), to use a wider variety of Japanese tools, to eat (although not depend upon) rice and canned fish, and to wear clothese exclusively of foreign material.’
[1]
Barter was not displaced entirely.
[1]: Gladwin, Thomas, and Seymour Bernard Sarason 1953. “Truk: Man In Paradise”, 43 |
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The Romans did not use paper currency in any period.
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The Romans did not use paper currency in any period.
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According to Alan Covey: "No evidence of money. I don’t know how one would document “markets”—in the exchange sense or the spatial sense? There is not enough evidence to evaluate exchange systems in the Cuzco region before Inca times, and the study of Inca exchange is steeped in substantivist/Marxian ideology that downplays exchange."
[1]
[1]: (Alan Covey 2015, personal communication) |
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According to Alan Covey: "No evidence of money. I don’t know how one would document “markets”—in the exchange sense or the spatial sense? There is not enough evidence to evaluate exchange systems in the Cuzco region before Inca times, and the study of Inca exchange is steeped in substantivist/Marxian ideology that downplays exchange."
[1]
[1]: (Alan Covey 2015, personal communication) |
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According to Alan Covey: "No evidence of money. I don’t know how one would document “markets”—in the exchange sense or the spatial sense? There is not enough evidence to evaluate exchange systems in the Cuzco region before Inca times, and the study of Inca exchange is steeped in substantivist/Marxian ideology that downplays exchange."
[1]
[1]: (Alan Covey 2015, personal communication) |
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According to Alan Covey: "No evidence of money. I don’t know how one would document “markets”—in the exchange sense or the spatial sense? There is not enough evidence to evaluate exchange systems in the Cuzco region before Inca times, and the study of Inca exchange is steeped in substantivist/Marxian ideology that downplays exchange."
[1]
[1]: (Alan Covey 2015, personal communication) |
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According to Alan Covey: "No evidence of money. I don’t know how one would document “markets”—in the exchange sense or the spatial sense? There is not enough evidence to evaluate exchange systems in the Cuzco region before Inca times, and the study of Inca exchange is steeped in substantivist/Marxian ideology that downplays exchange."
[1]
[1]: (Alan Covey 2015, personal communication) |
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"Another important difference lay in the long-time presence of special-purpose money and more sophisticated weights and measures than those found in the central Andean highlands. It is not clear how widely the currencies were used in prehistory. There is no evidence, for example, that land or labor could be purchased until the Colonial era (Hosler et al. 1990; Salomon 1986; 1987; Netherly 1978). The Incas themselves did not adopt the currencies for the state economy, although they used large amounts of the shell and gold for political and ceremonial ends. Instead, they either left things alone or manipulated the situation politically to give favored groups an advantage."
[1]
[1]: (D’Altroy 2014, 320) |
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Banknotes were introduced in 1780
[1]
[1]: (Payne 1973, 365) Payne, Stanley G. 1973. A History of Spain and Portugal, Volume 2, Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press. http://libro.uca.edu/payne2/spainport2.htm https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/Z6EHG6PP |
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"The fact is, that the paper currency of the country cannot be on a perfectly sound footing until the issue of notes, whether by joint stock banks or private individuals, be suppressed. ... A paper currency is not in a sound or wholesome state, unless, 1st, means be taken to insure that each particular note or parcel of such currency be paid immediately on demand; and unless, 2nd, the whole currency vary in amount and value exactly as a metallic currency would do were the paper currency withdrawn and coins substituted in its stead. The last condition is quite as indispensable to the existence of a well-established currency as the former; and it is one that cannot be fuilly realized otherwise than by confining the issue of paper to a single source. It is easy to see that were paper issued only by the Bank of England, or some one source in London, and then only in exchange for bullion, the currency would be in its most perfect state, and would fluctuate exactly as it would do were it wholly metallic. But at present the currency is supplied by hundreds of individuals and associations, all actuated by diferent and frequently conflicting views and interests."
[1]
[1]: (McCulloch 1847, 37) J R McCulloch. 1847. A Descriptive and Statistical Account of the British Empire. Third Edition. Volume II. Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans. London. |
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No indigeously produced paper money. During the reservation period, land and crops sales helped to generate monetary income: ’From 1790 until 1839, tribal and village government generally similar to that characteristic of the aboriginal era functioned. Local administration of justice and the allocation of lands among tribal members was in the hands of each of the tribal communities scattered along the banks of the Grand River. The Lower Cayuga had a treasury that dispensed with the proceeds of land sales. The Lower Mohawk too had a tribal fund which they jealously guarded (Canada, Six Nation Council Minutes, 1834-1839, P.A.C.R.G., 10). However, the Hereditary Council incroasingly assumed the autherity in what were previously tribal estates. In 1835 the council pressure from the Upper Mohawks led the Lower tribes to grant the Mohawks a share of the proceeds from the sale of Plaster beds.’
[1]
The prior use of foreign currency in external trade cannot be ruled out.
[1]: Foley, Denis 1994. “Ethnohistoric And Ethnographic Analysis Of The Iroquois From The Aboriginal Era To The Present Suburban Era”, 176 |
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After the introduction of foreign currency, barter was increasingly displaced by monetized exchange, but did not die out completely. Brass objects were particularly valuable. But this process did not predate colonization: ‘One of the significant economic transition brought about by the development of markets in Garo Hills is the gradual change over from barter to money economy.’
[1]
During the colonial and early independence periods, barter trade was gradually displaced by monetized exchange. The coins and bank notes used were of Koch, colonial and national origin. ‘This shows how due to the adoption of permanent cultivation the cash income position from crop sales in Wajadagiri has improved.’
[2]
[1]: Alam, K. 1995. “Markets Of Garo Hills: An Assessment Of Their Socio-Economic Implications”, 112 [2]: Majumdar, Dhirendra Narayan 1978. “Culture Change In Two Garo Villages”, 106 |
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According to SCCS variable 17 ’Money (Media of Exchange) and Credit’ is coded as ’Foreign coinage or paper currency’ ‘One of the significant economic transition brought about by the development of markets in Garo Hills is the gradual change over from barter to money economy.’
[1]
Cash crops, such as cotton, are sold at local markets. During the colonial and early independence periods, barter trade was gradually displaced by monetized exchange. The coins and bank notes used were of Koch, colonial and national origin. ‘This shows how due to the adoption of permanent cultivation the cash income position from crop sales in Wajadagiri has improved.’
[2]
[1]: Alam, K. 1995. “Markets Of Garo Hills: An Assessment Of Their Socio-Economic Implications”, 112 [2]: Majumdar, Dhirendra Narayan 1978. “Culture Change In Two Garo Villages”, 106 |
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According to SCCS variable 17 ’Money (Media of Exchange) and Credit’ ’Tokens of conventional value as media of exchange’ were used, not ’No media of exchange or money’ or ’Domestically used articles as media of exchange’ or ’Foreign coinage or paper coinage’, or ’Indigenous coinage or paper currency’.
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"The production of paper gave rise to increased record keeping in government offices, and to the widespread use of bills of exchange called hundis."
[1]
[1]: (Ahmed 2011, 101) Ahmed, Farooqui Salma. 2011. A Comprehensive History of Medieval India: Twelfth to the Mid-Eighteenth Century. Pearson Education India. |
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‘paper currency was used only on a limited basis in the early modern period. When paper money was issued, it was done by individual domains for use only within that region, despite the fact that the value of this paper money was pegged to the shogunate’s national currency system. The Fukui domain was the first to issue paper currency, doing so in 1661, and other domains followed this practice.’
[1]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.126. |
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According to SCCS variable 17 ’Money (Media of Exchange) and Credit’, ’No media of exchange or money’ or ’Domestically used articles as media of exchange’ or ’Tokens of conventional value as media of exchange’ or ’Foreign coinage or paper coinage’, or ’Indigenous coinage or paper currency’. The trade economy was monetized during the Brooke Raj and colonial periods, with the associated introduction of cash crops: ‘Another factor that appears to have been favourably regarded by the Iban, as well as other indigenous groups, was the opportunities that trade offered in acquiring a reserve capital and various prestige items. Trade, which was part of the rationale for pacification, was concerned in Iban areas with jungle produce like rattan and wild rubber which were shipped down-river in return for a counter-stream of items like salt, steel, iron, brass wire and gongs, crockery ware and the highly valued sacred jars of Chinese origin. After this trade had reached some bulk in the 1870’s and until the introduction of cultivated rubber it provided around thirty per cent of the state’s total exports. Rubber, which started to be grown in considerable quantities in the first decade of this century, became the most important of the small-holder cash-crops for the indigenous peoples. To begin with it was planted by many Iban communities in both the Second and the Third Division, but around the middle or late 1920’s non-Christian communities began cutting down their rubber trees. […] Prior to rubber, another cash-crop, coffee, had been grown with some success in the Second Division, notably amongst the Saribas Iban. The overproduction that completely upset the world market in 1897 and the drastic fall in prices, however, put an abrupt end to this endeavour.’
[1]
’With the rubber boom of 1950 this balance was completely disturbed. In September, 1950 (one year after the period we have just been discussing), Chinese traders were travelling all the rivers of the Baleh region in search of Iban rubber, and the price offered at Rumah Nyala was $1.50 per kati. Accepting an average daily output per worker of 5 katis, in September, 1950, the production of rubber had become a pursuit at least three times more profitable than the production of padi. Hulled rice ( brau ) had risen in price to about $2 per gantang. Under these conditions it is difficult to understand, if one is thinking purely in terms of immediate profit and loss, why farming was not abandoned in favour of full-time rubber production. In the Saribas District of the Second Division, indeed, there was a marked tendency in this direction. At Gansurai, a Dayak long-house on the banks of the Layar River, for example, 6 of the 19 bilek families did not grow any padi during the 1950-51 season, and were relying entirely on imported rice which they were able to purchase with money obtained from the sale of rubber. This was no great difficulty. One of the bilek families of Gansurai, employed 11 Malays on a share-cropping basis, and in April, 1951, with rubber at $1.15 per kati, the monthly income of this family was about $1,400.’
[2]
[1]: Wagner, Ulla 1972. “Colonialism And Iban Warfare”, 41 [2]: Freeman, Derek 1955. “Iban Agriculture: A Report On The Shifting Cultivation Of Hill Rice By The Iban Of Sarawak”, 106 |
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Geikhatu’s minster Sadr al-Din issued paper money along Chinese lines the chao, following concerns about the lack of funds in the royal treasury. These paper certificates had Chinese character printed on them and the Muslim confession of faith.
[1]
[1]: Morgan, David. The Mongols. 2nd ed. The Peoples of Europe. Malden, MA ; Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007, P.145. |
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The Romans did not use paper currency in any period.
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The Romans did not use paper currency in any period.
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The Romans did not use paper currency in any period.
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The Romans did not use paper currency in any period.
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The Romans did not use paper currency in any period.
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The Romans did not use paper currency in any period.
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The Romans did not use paper currency in any period.
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Although by this period international banking had reached a level of complexity by which towns like Florence often used bills of sale and credit in a way similar to paper currency, paper currency made by central banks did not exist yet.
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I have not found any clear evidence of paper currency, but letters of credit and bills of exchange were sophisticated enough by this point to count as paper currency.
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No indigenously produced paper currency. Russian money also became an important medium of exchange: ’Yakut also engaged in the fur trade; by the twentieth century hunters for luxury furs had depleted the ermines, sables, and foxes, and they were relying on squirrels. Yakut merchants and transporters spread throughout the entire northeast, easing communications and trade for natives and Russians. They sold luxuries like silver and gold jewelry and carved bone, ivory, and wood crafts in addition to staples such as butter, meat, and hay. Barter, Russian money, and furs formed the media of exchange. Guns were imported, as was iron for local blacksmiths.’
[1]
Fox, ermine, and deer skins were also sold for money: ’The Yakuts hunt foxes only in autumn and winter by setting up traps and self-released bows. Sometimes foxes get caught in the nooses set up to hares, but rarely perish in the noose trap, since the beam is not sufficiently quick to lift their weight. The fox eats everything: fish, meat, berries, roots, even the carrions of other foxes that got caught in the trap. The fox is far from being a rare animal in the north of the region: I saw one on several occasions near people’s houses and once witnessed a fox running across the yard of the yurta. A fox, especially the darker varieties which are larger, can be easily mistaken for a Yakut dog. The skin of the red fox serves in the north as a unit of exchange. It is priced between 2 and 5 rubles; sivodushka-between 6 & 15 rubles; and the black-brown variety between 25 and 50 rubles. I was shown very beautiful, perfectly black skins with a slight grizzle, for which 120 rubles was paid on the spot.’
[2]
’ERMINE (mustela erminea), kyrnas, belelyakh, is the animal most hunted for the purposes of trade. It is found in all parts of the country, on the tableland and in the tundra. Increase and decrease in the numbers of this animal depend probably on the amount of available food. In winter it comes near human dwellings, gets into the granaries, and eats and carriesaway meat and fish. It is caught by special traps called hlopushi (chirkan - a mouse trap). The ermine is a predatory, bold, and curious animal. When irritated it will attack even human beings. Cases are known of the ermine inflicting serious wounds on people, for it attempts to cut through the blood vessels on the neck, where it ascends with exceptional speed and agility. The ermine skin is priced between 2 and 5 cents and is used as the smallest exchange unit.’
[3]
’Deer meat is most delicious in September and October, and during this period the deer’s fur is regarded as at its best. The northern deer’s fur is considered warmer than that of the domesticated deer. On the spot the skin of the wild deer brings between 1 ruble and 2 rubles and 50 cents. The Yakuts hunt the deer with guns, or by setting up self-releasing bows. Pit-traps are not used by the Yakuts in hunting this or any other animal.’
[4]
Russian money was also at least occasionally used in dealings among the Sakha themselves: ’I at least never heard anything about a wealthy shaman; on the contrary, the shaman often gets no more than 5 kopeks for healing a sick eye. And how little is this sum worth north of Yakutsk! Some Yakuts refused to accept a twenty kopeks coin for a hazel-hen I wanted to buy, saying that they could not manage to use the money; if it had an eye, they would have used it as a button; but as there was no such, I was to take it back. The smallest unit for them is the ruble.’
[5]
[1]: Balzer, Marjorie Mandelstam and Skoggard, Ian: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Yakut [2]: Sieroszewski, Wacław 1993. “Yakut: An Experiment In Ethnographic Research”, 275 [3]: Sieroszewski, Wacław 1993. “Yakut: An Experiment In Ethnographic Research”, 280 [4]: Sieroszewski, Wacław 1993. “Yakut: An Experiment In Ethnographic Research”, 290 [5]: Priklonski, Vasilij, and Friedrich S. Krauss 1888. “Shamanism Among The Yakut", 175 |
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No indigenously produced paper money. According to SCCS variable 17 ’Money (Media of Exchange) and Credit’, ‘1’ or ’No media of exchange or money’ was present, not ’Domestically used articles as media of exchange’ or ’Tokens of conventional value as media of exchange’ or ’Foreign coinage or paper coinage’, or ’Indigenous coinage or paper currency’. Rivet reports some monetization of the tsantsa trade: ’The first tsantsas coming to Europe had their hour [72] of renown and attained extraordinary prices. In 1865, one of them was sold for 1500 francs ( ). Ten years ago another was sold at auction for 500 francs at the Hotél Drouot ( ). Actually, these objects are much less rare and have lost a part of their commercial value. At Macas, at Gualaquiza and at Zamora, the whites buy them directly from the Indians for ten sucres, that is 25 francs, and take them to Cuenca, Riobamba and Loja, where they resell them for 30 to 50 sucres, that is 75 to 125 francs. In Europe, the best examples are worth 200 and 300 francs and there is not an important museum that does not possess at least one. In Paris, the Museum of Natural History has five of them, the Anthropological Society one, the Ethnographic Museum of the Trocadero three, the Army Museum one, and also there are a good number in private collections.’
[1]
It remains to be confirmed how common this was in direct exchanges between settlers/traders and Indians.
[1]: Rivet, Paul 1908. “Jivaro Indians: Geographic, Historical And Ethnographic Research”, 71p |
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Would not be invented for another couple thousand years.
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"during the Western Jin and early Sixteen Kingdom periods paper spread westward and replaced woodslips".
[1]
- No mention of paper currency in this brief discussion of early Chinese paper making in this source.
[1]: (Xinjiang 2013, 424) Xinjiang, Rong. Galambos, Imre trans. 2013. Eighteen Lectures on Dunhuang. BRILL. |
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No true paper money, however merchants could carry "feiqian (literally, "flying money"), a government-issued document that was redeemable on presentation at any of the provincial treasuries."
[1]
[1]: (Cheng 2003, 10) Cheng, Linsun. Banking in Modern China: Entrepreneurs, Professional Managers, and the Development of Chinese Banks, 1897-1937. Cambridge University Press. |
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As Northern Song.
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"The Ministry of Revenue was charged with overseeing population cen- suses, taxation records, state treasuries, currency, and government manufac- turing. One of this ministry’s most important duties was enforcing the numerous and elaborate Yiian regulations concerning paper currency. Be- cause the Yiian government was committed to the empirewide circulation of paper notes, the procedures necessary for printing and administering paper currency were extensive. The government’s deep concern is suggested by the fact that counterfeiting paper money was punishable by death."
[1]
[1]: (Endicott-West 1994, 589) |
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1375 CE: Hongwu Emperor issued banknotes (大明通行寶鈔) due to lack to copper; 1389 CE: The government issued more banknotes with smaller denomination. Inflation begun in the circulation market as the Ming did kept issuing banknotes but did not recycle the old ones. "The Ming halted the practice [of using paper money] in the mid-fifteenth century...The private sector moved to fill the void"
[1]
[1]: (Eastman 1988, 111 ) Eastman, Lloyd. 1988. Family, Fields and Ancestors: Constancy and Change in China’s Social and Economic History 1550-1949. Oxford: Oxford University Press. |
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Had paper. need to check whether paper formed the basis of any financial instruments within the banking system that could be called money.
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Had paper. need to check whether paper formed the basis of any financial instruments within the banking system that could be called money.
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Bonds and bills of exchange were issued on paper but it was not currency.
[1]
[1]: (Bucholz et al 2013: 328) Bucholz, Robert, Newton Key, and R.O. Bucholz. 2013. Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=1166775. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQGJH96U |
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Only metal coins were present.
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“The history of paper money in France is usually associated with the figure of John Law who, with the support of the Regent, Philippe, duc d’Orléans, between 1716 and 1720, carried out financial experiments to sustain the French currency on the international money market, boost economic activity and restructure the war debt accumulated in the course of Louis XIV’s wars. However, as John Law acknowledged, France had already used paper money, and the dire memory of this earlier monetary experience featured high among the arguments of those, in government, who initially opposed the Scot’s proposal to establish a bank and issue notes. ‘The public’, John Law observed in December 1715, ‘is against the bank because of the billets de monnoye [mint bills], of the caisse des emprunts, etc., which have brought great prejudice to commerce and individuals’ (Harsin 1934, II, p. 274).
“That first introduction of fiat money in the kingdom took place on the initiative of Michel Chamillart (1652-1721) who held both the posts of contrôleur général des finances (1699- 1708) and secrétaire d’État de la guerre (1701-1709). The decision to issue paper money as legal tender is certainly Chamillart’s most original and dramatic (if largely forgotten) contribution to the history of France, as it led to the first experience of fiat money inflation.” [1] [1]: (Felix 2018: 43) Felix, J. 2018. ‘The most difficult financial matter that has ever presented itself’: paper money and the financing of warfare under Louis XIV. Financial History Review 25(1): 43-70. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/URTP9U5H/library |
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"The Mesopotamians did not use coinage (invented in Asia Minor in the seventh century B.C.E.) but employed various commodities as media of exchange and measures of value: occasionally gold, copper, and tin, but most commonly silver and grain. The value of goods entrusted to merchants was reckoned in weights of silver or volumes of barley, as was that of the commodities that the merchants brought back from their expeditions. Silver rings, coils of silver wire that could easily be cut into pieces, and other small units (often of 5 shekels weight) were regularly used in transactions, the requisite quantity of silver being weighed out to make a purchase or pay for a service."
[1]
[1]: (McIntosh 2005: 132) McIntosh, J. 2005. Ancient Mesopotamia: New Perspective. Santa Barbara: ABC Clio. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/KK2E3KMD. |
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"The Mesopotamians did not use coinage (invented in Asia Minor in the seventh century B.C.E.) but employed various commodities as media of exchange and measures of value: occasionally gold, copper, and tin, but most commonly silver and grain. The value of goods entrusted to merchants was reckoned in weights of silver or volumes of barley, as was that of the commodities that the merchants brought back from their expeditions. Silver rings, coils of silver wire that could easily be cut into pieces, and other small units (often of 5 shekels weight) were regularly used in transactions, the requisite quantity of silver being weighed out to make a purchase or pay for a service."
[1]
[1]: (McIntosh 2005: 132) McIntosh, J. 2005. Ancient Mesopotamia: New Perspective. Santa Barbara: ABC Clio. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/KK2E3KMD. |
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Not mentioned in sources so far consulted.
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No data. The preceding Ilkhanate Mongols issued paper currency similar to the Chinese model of that era.
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This is based on the codes for the Rasulids as ’Sultan ’Amir also appears to have been emulating the high period of Rasulid power a hundred years earlier’
[1]
[1]: Porter, Venetia Ann (1992) The history and monuments of the Tahirid dynasty of the Yemen 858-923/1454-1517, Durham theses, Durham University, p. 4 Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/5867/ |
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No data.
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"Gift-giving and receiving do not rule out other kinds of exchange, but trade in the Rig Vedic context was probably minimal. Barter was the mode of exchange and cattle an important unit of value. The word nishka seems to have meant ’a piece of gold’ or ’gold necklace’, and there is no indication of the use of coins."
[1]
[1]: Singh, U. (2008) A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India, From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Dorling Kindersley: Delhi. p191 |
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Paper did not exist at this time.
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Paper did not exist at this time.
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Paper did not exist at this time.
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"Although both qianyin and huizi functioned as de facto paper money, they still preserved certain features of the instrument of credit that allowed for a close connection with the financial market."
[1]
"There were two key reasons for the success of qianyin in the twelfth century: first, like its antecedent the jiaozi voucher, qianyin was redeemable by the government; second, the Sichuan administration recognized it as a means of payment. Soldiers used it to purchase goods on the market after receiving their qianyin-paid salaries, and farmers and merchants used it to pay taxes.This policy turned qianyin into a paper money and certainly increased the real size of the money supply."
[1]
However, the qianin and huizi played a greater role in the Southern Song after 1130 CE because "as the Song court could maintain a budgetary balance during the centuries prior to 1125, it did not seriously exploit the credit instruments for waging war."
[2]
[1]: (Liu 2015, 70) [2]: (Liu 2015, 69-70) |
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According to SCCS variable 17 ’Money (Media of Exchange) and Credit’, ‘1’ or ’No media of exchange or money’ was present, not ’Domestically used articles as media of exchange’ or ’Tokens of conventional value as media of exchange’ or ’Foreign coinage or paper coinage’, or ’Indigenous coinage or paper currency’. Monetary exchange was introduced by the colonial powers.
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According to SCCS variable 17 ’Money (Media of Exchange) and Credit’, ‘1’ or ’No media of exchange or money’ was present, not ’Domestically used articles as media of exchange’ or ’Tokens of conventional value as media of exchange’ or ’Foreign coinage or paper coinage’, or ’Indigenous coinage or paper currency’. Monetary exchange was introduced by the colonial powers: ’By the 1930s many Koropata men had been to gaol for disobeying one or other of the Native Regulations. Tax had been introduced before World War I and the consequent need for money was a powerful impetus for the planting of village cash crops and continued signing on for plantation work. In this decade more Koropatans were recruited to work on Kokoda rubber plantations, thus coming into contact with other Papuans. More of the villagers were becoming familiar with Papuans from other areas. The mission was known only by rumour until 1928 when the Anglicans bought 5 acres at Baravaturu. During the 1930s the more mobile Koropatans became acquainted with a kind of white man whose activities and objectives seemed to differ from those they had previously encountered, the missionary more interested in their beliefs than their labour power (Files 407, Karius in 409, 411; Box 6549, G91).’
[1]
[1]: Newton, Janice 1985. “Orokaiva Production And Change”, 57 |
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Initiative of Desmarets 1700s CE which failed then Law’s System which crashed 1720 CE.
[1]
[2]
“The history of paper money in France is usually associated with the figure of John Law who, with the support of the Regent, Philippe, duc d’Orléans, between 1716 and 1720, carried out financial experiments to sustain the French currency on the international money market, boost economic activity and restructure the war debt accumulated in the course of Louis XIV’s wars. However, as John Law acknowledged, France had already used paper money, and the dire memory of this earlier monetary experience featured high among the arguments of those, in government, who initially opposed the Scot’s proposal to establish a bank and issue notes. ‘The public’, John Law observed in December 1715, ‘is against the bank because of the billets de monnoye [mint bills], of the caisse des emprunts, etc., which have brought great prejudice to commerce and individuals’ (Harsin 1934, II, p. 274). “That first introduction of fiat money in the kingdom took place on the initiative of Michel Chamillart (1652-1721) who held both the posts of contrôleur général des finances (1699- 1708) and secrétaire d’État de la guerre (1701-1709). The decision to issue paper money as legal tender is certainly Chamillart’s most original and dramatic (if largely forgotten) contribution to the history of France, as it led to the first experience of fiat money inflation.” [3] [1]: (Briggs 1998, 151) [2]: (Ladurie 1991, 290) [3]: (Felix 2018: 43) Felix, J. 2018. ‘The most difficult financial matter that has ever presented itself’: paper money and the financing of warfare under Louis XIV. Financial History Review 25(1): 43-70. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/URTP9U5H/library |
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(this position codes only for indigenously produced currency) Chinese currency was used where markets and cash were accessible: ’Trade. - The Miao people do not know how to trade. Formerly, the Chinese brought salt and cloth into the Miao villages to exchange for their local products, but there were many dishonest traders, who cheated the Miao, giving rise to much confusion at times. Later the Chinese were officially prohibited from entering Miao villages to trade, but certain places were designated for sitting up markets, to be used once every five days, six times a month. The best-known markets among the Miao are the Te-sheng-ying, Kan-tzu-p’ing, Ya-pao-chai, Ya-la-ying, and Hsin-chai (Illus. 40) of Feng-huang; the Ta-hsin-chai of Kan-ch’eng; and the Wei-ch’eng, Lung-t’an, and Ma-li-ch’ang of Yung-sui. The important articles of trade are salt, cloth, animals, /Illus. 39, p. 73/ /Illus. 40 appears here/ and grains. Formerly, in trade between the Chinese and the Miao four small bowls were equal to one sheng. For cloth one measure between two hands was considered four ch’ih. The price of cattle and horses are set by the number of fists, regardless of age. The method of measurement by fist is like this. They take a bamboo splint and wind it around the fore ribs of the cow to set its girth, and then they measure the bamboo splint with their fists. A water buffalo which measures 16 fists is big, and a common yellow cow which measures 13 fists is large. The operation is called “fisting a cow.” In the case of horses age does come into consideration. They measure a horse from the ground to the saddle place by comparing it with a wooden rod. A 13-fist high one is big. A horse with few teeth but of many fists fetches a higher price, and the reverse fetches a lower price. This operation is called “comparing horses.” In recent times, in the sale of rice, cloth, and other articles, they have adopted the Chinese standards of weight and measurement, but “fisting cows” and “comparing horses” are sometimes still done.’
[1]
’There are localities where the Ch’uan Miao barter a great deal because of the shortage of money, the differences being paid in cash. This is more common in northern Yunnan than in Szechwan where market-places and towns are more accessible. The Ch’uan Miao sell cattle, goats, sheep, horses, pigs, chickens, corn, rice, eggs and vegetables and purchase salt. cloth, silver ornaments, pottery and implements and tools made of iron.’
[2]
Cash gifts were also part of marriage negotiations: ’A considerable time is allowed to elapse between engagement and marriage. Before the wedding ceremony the boy’s parents select another lucky day to make a formal call upon the girl’s family in company with five to eight relatives to deliver cash and other gifts. This is called “sung p’ing-chin” /sending betrothal money/ or "tsou k’ê /going as guests/. The cash present varies from $30 or $50 up to $400 or $500, depending upon the financial ability of the boy’s family. The dowry of the girl is also proportional to the amount of cash. Other gifts include glutinous rice, (rich families giving as many as one or two piculs /a picul is 100 catties or 133.3 1 bs/), puffed rice /candies/, cakes, brown sugar, a silver necklace, and one or two fat pigs. The gifts are placed on table scaffoldings, each carried by two men. The presents of rich families can be quite lavish and sometimes amount to as many as a dozen tables. [...] The head of the groom’s family then picks up the cash and the silver necklace both wrapped in a piece of red paper and places them on the rice. Next he burns incense and lights candles to worship the ancestors. After a few minutes the four representatives at the table each pick up a bowl of wine and empties it in one gulp. These then become the witnesses who are required to testify in the event of marital complications or divorce. At that time, if the bride’s family considers the cash gift as not large enough to match the dowry, they may ask their representatives to refrain from drinking the wine to indicate dissatisfaction.’
[3]
[1]: Ling, Shun-sheng, Yifu Ruey, and Lien-en Tsao 1947. “Report On An Investigation Of The Miao Of Western Hunan”, 103 [2]: Graham, David Crockett 1937. “Customs Of The Ch’Uan Miao", 24 [3]: Che-lin, Wu, Chen Kuo-chün, and Lien-en Tsao 1942. “Studies Of Miao-I Societies In Kweichow”, 44 |
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Monetary system did not exist in the Ubaid.
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Monetary system did not exist in the Uruk polity.
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Monetary system did not exist in the Early Dynastic Period.
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Monetary system did not existed in the Akkadian Empire Period.
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Monetary system did not exist in the Ur III polity.
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"The Mesopotamians did not use coinage (invented in Asia Minor in the seventh century B.C.E.) but employed various commodities as media of exchange and measures of value: occasionally gold, copper, and tin, but most commonly silver and grain. The value of goods entrusted to merchants was reckoned in weights of silver or volumes of barley, as was that of the commodities that the merchants brought back from their expeditions. Silver rings, coils of silver wire that could easily be cut into pieces, and other small units (often of 5 shekels weight) were regularly used in transactions, the requisite quantity of silver being weighed out to make a purchase or pay for a service."
[1]
[1]: (McIntosh 2005: 132) McIntosh, J. 2005. Ancient Mesopotamia: New Perspective. Santa Barbara: ABC Clio. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/KK2E3KMD. |
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|
"The Mesopotamians did not use coinage (invented in Asia Minor in the seventh century B.C.E.) but employed various commodities as media of exchange and measures of value: occasionally gold, copper, and tin, but most commonly silver and grain. The value of goods entrusted to merchants was reckoned in weights of silver or volumes of barley, as was that of the commodities that the merchants brought back from their expeditions. Silver rings, coils of silver wire that could easily be cut into pieces, and other small units (often of 5 shekels weight) were regularly used in transactions, the requisite quantity of silver being weighed out to make a purchase or pay for a service."
[1]
[1]: (McIntosh 2005: 132) McIntosh, J. 2005. Ancient Mesopotamia: New Perspective. Santa Barbara: ABC Clio. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/KK2E3KMD. |
||||||
|
"The Mesopotamians did not use coinage (invented in Asia Minor in the seventh century B.C.E.) but employed various commodities as media of exchange and measures of value: occasionally gold, copper, and tin, but most commonly silver and grain. The value of goods entrusted to merchants was reckoned in weights of silver or volumes of barley, as was that of the commodities that the merchants brought back from their expeditions. Silver rings, coils of silver wire that could easily be cut into pieces, and other small units (often of 5 shekels weight) were regularly used in transactions, the requisite quantity of silver being weighed out to make a purchase or pay for a service."
[1]
[1]: (McIntosh 2005: 132) McIntosh, J. 2005. Ancient Mesopotamia: New Perspective. Santa Barbara: ABC Clio. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/KK2E3KMD. |
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Although exchange of goods will have taken place, sources do not suggest that specific monetary items have been found dating to this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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Although exchange of goods will have taken place, sources do not suggest that specific monetary items have been found dating to this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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Sources do not suggest that monetary items have been found dating to this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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Sources do not suggest that monetary items have been found dating to this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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Sources do not suggest that monetary items have been found dating to this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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Sources do not suggest that monetary items have been found dating to this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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Sources do not suggest that monetary items have been found dating to this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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Sources do not suggest that monetary items have been found dating to this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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Monetary items have not been found dating to this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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Paper currency not mentioned in histories/descriptions of the Venetian currency system, which appears to be relatively well studied. For example:
"From its origins in the early Middle Ages,Venice relied on different coins for different monetary roles. As the medieval centuries progressed, the Venetian state introduced separate denominations with distinctive appearances in terms of size, color, and imagery to fill the various monetary niches. The different metals used for these issues, and divergent rates of seignorage applied to their minting, resulted in inequities in the coinages used by different sectors of the economy. Venetian authorities made no mention of the effects of monetary changes on various social groups, but they could not have been ignorant of the disparities in outcome." [1] [1]: (Stahl 2007, 195) Stahl, A. 2007. Coins for Trade and for Wages: The Development of Coinage Systems in Medieval Venice. In Lucassen, J. (ed) Wages and currency. Global comparisons from antiquity to the twentieth century pp. 193-209. Peter Lang. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZWWBS2BC/library |
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Paper currency not mentioned in histories/descriptions of the Venetian currency system, which appears to be relatively well studied. For example:
"From its origins in the early Middle Ages,Venice relied on different coins for different monetary roles. As the medieval centuries progressed, the Venetian state introduced separate denominations with distinctive appearances in terms of size, color, and imagery to fill the various monetary niches. The different metals used for these issues, and divergent rates of seignorage applied to their minting, resulted in inequities in the coinages used by different sectors of the economy. Venetian authorities made no mention of the effects of monetary changes on various social groups, but they could not have been ignorant of the disparities in outcome." [1] [1]: (Stahl 2007, 195) Stahl, A. 2007. Coins for Trade and for Wages: The Development of Coinage Systems in Medieval Venice. In Lucassen, J. (ed) Wages and currency. Global comparisons from antiquity to the twentieth century pp. 193-209. Peter Lang. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZWWBS2BC/library |
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“The guifang was concurrent with another notable Tang monetary innovation: ‘flying cash’ (feiqian 飛錢), introduced during the emperor Xianzong’s (憲 r. 806–820 CE) reign. Flying cash comprised a public-order mechanism whereby merchants received from the imperial treasury against liquid deposits a paper scrip that could be carried into other provinces easily and cashed in local flying cash depots as the need arose. Guifang and flying cash depots dotted the Tang capital of Chang’an and other urban centers. They became the most visible sign of an increasingly sophisticated credit economy. But, while private-order counting houses were gradually falling from grace, variants of flying cash continued to be used throughout the subsequent Five Dynasties era (907–960 CE), laying the groundwork for the dissemination of the world’s first full-fledged fiduciary paper money during the Northern Song (960–1127 CE).”
[1]
[1]: (Horesh 2013: 375) Horesh, N. 2013. ‘CANNOT BE FED ON WHEN STARVING’: AN ANALYSIS OF THE ECONOMIC THOUGHT SURROUNDING CHINA’S EARLIER USE OF PAPER MONEY. Journal of the History of Economic Thought 35(3): 373-395. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/6PGHSGRX/library |
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There was no currency but trade was based on an exchange system with their neighbours and other peoples who lived on the coast of North America.
[1]
[1]: “The Ancestral Sonoran Desert People - Casa Grande Ruins National Monument (U.S. National Park Service),”. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HZ95455H |
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“By 1795 the government was printing paper money to cover the added costs of war, and by 1797—as a result of a panic caused by fears that Napoleon would take Vienna— silver was completely withdrawn from circulation, and state employees and state creditors had to accept paper bills as their payment.”
[1]
[1]: (Judson 2016: 90) Judson, Pieter M. 2016. The Habsburg Empire: A New History. Cambridge, USA; London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BN5TQZBW |
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“Gulden banknotes issued by the Bank were printed in German on one side, Hungarian (as Forints) on the other.”
[1]
“By 1918 tax and non-tax income covered less than 20% of current war expenditures. The war was financed in two main ways: war loans in the form of eight public bond drives covered 53%, and direct credits (with newly printed money) provided via the Austro-Hungarian National Bank and other bank consortia financed another 42% of war costs, imposing a huge burden of hyperinflation on the postwar economy.”
[2]
[1]: (Boyer 2022: 176, footnote) Boyer, John W. 2022. Austria, 1867–1955. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/CG3P4KKD [2]: (Boyer 2022: 536) Boyer, John W. 2022. Austria, 1867–1955. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/CG3P4KKD |
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“As soon as the most turbulent stages of the revolution were over, the economy began to recover. The recovery was preceded by the end of hyperinflation. A return to the gold standard in 1916 provided the basis for rapid stabilization of prices. Two factors were behind the monetary stabilization. Cárdenas and Manns (1987), following Kemmerer (1940), argue that, as notes in circulation progressively lost the functions of money, a reversion of Gresham’s law took place with notes (“bad money”) being replaced by gold and silver (“good money”)… In any case, the government’s decision meant that notes would not function as a means of payment, thus acting as a monetary reform that stabilized prices in terms of the newly circulating coins. Paper money would not circulate again in large amounts until the end of 1931.”
[1]
[1]: (Moreno-Brid and Ros 2009: 74-75) Moreno-Brid, Juan Carlos and Ros, Jaime. 2009. Development and Growth in the Mexican Economy: A Historical Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/PZXKGTTV |
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“The strongbox of the new bank was kept in the sacristy of the cathedral, and when in 1628 the clergy protested against keeping it so close to the relics of the saints it was shifted just a short distance away to a special chamber upstairs. Neither it nor its equivalent of the same name in Barcelona were supposed to do anything with the treasure other than keep it under lock and key, issuing the depositor with an albarà—a certificate of his holding. In time the albarans began to circulate as a kind of currency, transferring deposits from one citizen to another to whom he owed money. But this nascent paper currency was largely aborted in the seventeenth century, as the Taula began to spend more money than it had in reserve. The successive bankruptcies of 1614, 1634 and 1649 in Valencia led to the conversion of the promissory notes (the albarans) into non-redeemable bonds on the municipal treasury.”(Casey 2002: 70) Casey, James. 2002. Early Modern Spain: A Social History. New York: Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2SNTRSWT
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No evidence of paper currency referred to in the sources consulted.
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The Bank of England began issuing fixed denomination paper currency in the early eighteenth century and partially printed notes from 1725.
[1]
[1]: ( Bank of England) Bank of England. ‘History’. https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/about/history. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/PYMZXS4N |
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The first instance of paper currency in Russia was introduced during the reign of Peter the Great. The Assignation Ruble was the first paper currency of the Russian Empire, introduced in 1769.
[1]
[1]: Pick, Albert. Standard Catalog of World Paper Money. 2: General Issues: 1368-1960 / George S. Cuhaj, Editor. Edited by George S. Cuhaj. 13. ed. Iola, Wisc: Krause, 2010. Zotero link: 4QMQVGF7 |
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The origins of the Russian ruble as a designation of silver weight can be traced to the 13th century. In 1704 Tsar Peter I (the Great) introduced the first regular minting of the ruble in silver. During the 18th century it was debased, and, after the middle of the 19th century, the rapidly depreciating paper money predominated in Russia’s circulation. In 1897 a gold ruble was substituted for the silver one, marking the change to a gold standard. Early in World War I, gold coins disappeared from circulation, and notes became inconvertible. During the period of the Russian Revolution and civil war, an inflation of astronomical dimensions made the ruble virtually worthless. A reform carried out during 1922–23 reestablished an orderly monetary system. The chervonets was introduced as the standard unit and the basis of the state bank’s note issue; the chervonets ruble, corresponding to one-tenth of a chervonets, was made a unit of reckoning. The ruble remained a term of denomination for treasury notes and silver coins. In the post-World War II reform of 1947, the chervonets was abandoned as the monetary standard and the ruble restored.
[1]
[1]: “Ruble | Russian Currency, Exchange Rate, History & Value Definition | Britannica Money.” Accessed November 26, 2023. https://www.britannica.com/money/ruble. Zotero link: 2HBX67H7 |
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No evidence of paper currency referred to in the sources consulted.
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The following suggests that paper currency was first introduced to the region in 1808. "From 1 January 1808 Freetown was administered by Whitehall and served as the residence of the British governor. The company coins were withdrawn with the transfer, with re-issues of only the ten-cent pieces in 1802, 1803 and 1805, by which date they had become extremely rare. The first governor specifically objected to the company currency because he believed its decimal denomination appealed to American republicanism. The company coins were immediately replaced with bills of ten, five and one dollars, and three months later with Governor Thompson’s own home-made treasury bills of five pounds and one pound sterling,38 whose issues spiralled out of control within two years of his appointment."
[1]
[1]: (Mew 2016: 200) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/U3D2FQIH/collection. |
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The following suggests that the main items of currency were kola nuts, blue cloths, iron, wire, red coral, salt, glassware, wine, aguardiente. "[T]wo documents can in fact shed a great deal of light on the history of Kaabu. Both date from towards the end of the 17th century[...]. The first document is a list of the trade of the Portuguese and the important ports of the region between the Casamance river and Sierra Leone. [...] The author, Governor Rodrigo de Oliveira da Fonseca, states: ’In the Geba river it is possible to navigate almost forty leagues upstream in small boats; halfway up is the settlement of whites which has three hundred Christians including men, women and children; in all this inland interior there are a great number of blacks of diverse nations, all of them have come across the whites and cultivate cotton and many other crops which they sell to the whites together with many slaves and much ivory and wax and some gold and white cloths which the blacks bring from a long way inland and they exchange it for kola nuts which there is the best currency for exchange [genero]… and other good currencies in this whole region are blue cloths and iron and wire and fine red coral and salt…and aguardente is also well received”. [...] According to Castanho, the main items of exchange were kola nuts, followed by salt, glassware, and then items such as wine and aguardente.
[1]
[1]: (Green 2009: 103) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/V2GTBN8A/collection. |
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The following suggests that paper currency was first introduced in 1808. "From 1 January 1808 Freetown was administered by Whitehall and served as the residence of the British governor. The company coins were withdrawn with the transfer, with re-issues of only the ten-cent pieces in 1802, 1803 and 1805, by which date they had become extremely rare. The first governor specifically objected to the company currency because he believed its decimal denomination appealed to American republicanism. The company coins were immediately replaced with bills of ten, five and one dollars, and three months later with Governor Thompson’s own home-made treasury bills of five pounds and one pound sterling,38 whose issues spiralled out of control within two years of his appointment."
[1]
[1]: (Mew 2016: 200) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/U3D2FQIH/collection. |
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"First, prior to the arrival of the first wave of [colonial] settlers [to Freetown in 1787] there existed no centralised currency system that resembled, for example, the gold dust of the Asante Kingdom (where the use of cowries was forbidden). Cowries were not generally much in use in the coastal and hinterland regions of Sierra Leone, and this led to acute problems in introducing coins that were of small enough denominations for local market transactions (in turn leading to problems with cut dollars in 1818)."
[1]
[1]: (Mew 2016: 199( Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/U3D2FQIH/collection. |
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The following suggests not only that cattle were no longer used as articles of exchange, but also the existence of system of exchange based on labor rather than physical currency. "By the middle of Red II this material symbol of inequality, cattle, ceased to be commonly kept, despite the emergence of a drier environment more suitable for animal husbandry in the second millennium A.D. Historically, cattle served as social capital in many non-centralized Voltaic societies, enabling marriages and funerary celebrations, and representing wealth. Consequently, the rejection of cattle, in addition to limiting the accumulation of wealth, may also indicate the beginning of matrimonial compensation in agricultural labor, typical of modern autonomous village societies."
[1]
[1]: (Dueppen 2012: 30) |
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The following suggests not only that cattle were no longer used as articles of exchange, but also the existence of system of exchange based on labor rather than physical currency. "By the middle of Red II this material symbol of inequality, cattle, ceased to be commonly kept, despite the emergence of a drier environment more suitable for animal husbandry in the second millennium A.D. Historically, cattle served as social capital in many non-centralized Voltaic societies, enabling marriages and funerary celebrations, and representing wealth. Consequently, the rejection of cattle, in addition to limiting the accumulation of wealth, may also indicate the beginning of matrimonial compensation in agricultural labor, typical of modern autonomous village societies."
[1]
[1]: (Dueppen 2012: 30) |
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The following information strictly applies to the period immediately preceding colonisation--however, given global trends in the history of currency, it seems very unlikely for paper currency to have existed in this region prior to the 18th century. "Cowries and cotton bands were used as currency."
[1]
[1]: (Englebert 2018: 15) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/52JWRCUI/collection. |
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The following information strictly applies to the period immediately preceding colonisation--however, given global trends in the history of currency, it seems very unlikely for paper currency to have existed in this region prior to the 18th century. "Cowries and cotton bands were used as currency."
[1]
[1]: (Englebert 2018: 15) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/52JWRCUI/collection. |
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"First, prior to the arrival of the first wave of [colonial] settlers [to Freetown in 1787] there existed no centralised currency system that resembled, for example, the gold dust of the Asante Kingdom (where the use of cowries was forbidden). Cowries were not generally much in use in the coastal and hinterland regions of Sierra Leone, and this led to acute problems in introducing coins that were of small enough denominations for local market transactions (in turn leading to problems with cut dollars in 1818)."
[1]
[1]: (Mew 2016: 199( Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/U3D2FQIH/collection. |
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The following suggests that strings, "standard measurements of beads" and possibly glass beads were used as "money". "Given their quality as a high-value and low-bulk commodity, long-distance travelers likely carried Ifè glass beads across the Yorùbá world and the adjacent areas as a means of payment for provisions on their journeys. The durability and affective qualities of these dichroic beads, especially the most common sègi, and the guarantee of their supply and demand encouraged people to use them as a means of high-value exchange and for storing wealth. We are short of evidence on whether glass beads evolved to serve as a standard currency, especially as a means of pricing. However, strings and other standard measurements of beads were likely used for purchasing high-value products and services."
[1]
[1]: (Ogundiran 2020: 107-108) |
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No reference to any indigenous paper currency being present, only traded items, slaves and brass rods. There may have been other forms of local currency, so can’t be certain. “From another historian we get the reasons for the Aro Expedition as follows: “Reasons for the war advanced by Sir Ralph Moore, the British High Commissioner of the Nigerian Coast Protectorate, included: To put a stop to slave dealing and the slave trade generally with a view to the Slave Dealing Proclamation No. 5 of 1901 being enforced throughout the entire territories as from first of January next; to abolish the Juju hierarchy of the Aro tribe, which by superstition and fraud causes much injustice among the coast tribes generally and is opposed to the establishment of Government. The power of the priesthood is also employed in obtaining natives for sale as slaves and it is essential to finally break it; to open up the country of the entire Aro to civilization; to induce the natives to engage in legitimate trade; to introduce a currency in lieu of slaves, brass rods, and other forms of native currency and to facilitate trade transactions; to eventually establish a labour market as a substitute to the present system of slavery””
[1]
[1]: Innocent, Rev. (2020). A Critical Study on the Ibini Ukpabi (Arochukwu Long Juju) Oracle and its Implications on the International Relations During the 20th Century. London Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Sciences, 20(10): 8. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ZXZGZSM3/collection |
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Scholarship mentions several other types of money, but nothing about paper currency.
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The following quote suggests that the main form of currency was cowrie shells. “The reign of Oba Esigie witnessed the increasing monetisation of the enclave economy (cowries), and provided the opportunity for the development of "institutionalized mechanisms of exploitation" (Belasco 1980, 81-82). The palace control of cowries and the elite domination of commercial development in the administrative and economic enclaves provided the final element in the emergence of the dual economy. The capital and commercial centres had developed highly sophisticated and well-organised monetary exchange systems. However, the vassal villages in the empire remained relatively static, with little circulation of either commercial consumer goods or currency forms (cowries or manillas).”
[1]
[1]: Sargent, R. A. (1986). From A Redistribution to an Imperial Social Formation: Benin c.1293-1536. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des Études Africaines, 20(3), 402–427: 421. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/AUEZSTBR/collection |
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"As we have noted, pre-colonial Buganda never developed a purely monetary economy, and even during the later nineteenth century barter was an important method of exchange, existing alongside a cowry currency. Nevertheless, the information we have on nineteenth-century prices suggests that virtually everything had at least a nominal cowry value. Moreover, other currencies existed alongside cowries, and some undoubtedly pre-dated the latter. Roscoe mentions a "small ivory disc" which he terms ’sanga’, ssanga being the Luganda term for either a tusk or ivory in general. This, Roscoe claimed, was one of the earliest forms of money in Buganda; although clearly indigenous and probably much older than the cowry shell, it also had a cowry value. One disc was apparently worth one hundred shells. Ivory played a dual role insofar as it was on the one hand a commodity valued for its own sake, and on the other a standard medium of exchange. The former role gradually took precedence over the latter, as demand for ivory from the coast increased, so that as the nineteenth century progressed, ivory as money all but disappeared. [...] A third pre-cowry currency has already been mentioned, namely the blue bead, and as we have also already noted, examples of beads have been excavated at Ntusi. From such archaeological evidence, it is possible to suggest that beads may be the oldest currency in the region."
[1]
[1]: (Reid 2010: 126-127) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2H64W34U/collection. |
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"As we have seen, to secure their essential ties, the ancient states, lacking writing and money, relied on kinship, trust, and personal relationships, which were periodically rekindled by direct contact and exchanged words."
[1]
[1]: (Chrétien 2006: 178) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/FXCVWDRI/collection. |
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"As we have noted, pre-colonial Buganda never developed a purely monetary economy, and even during the later nineteenth century barter was an important method of exchange, existing alongside a cowry currency. Nevertheless, the information we have on nineteenth-century prices suggests that virtually everything had at least a nominal cowry value. Moreover, other currencies existed alongside cowries, and some undoubtedly pre-dated the latter. Roscoe mentions a "small ivory disc" which he terms ’sanga’, ssanga being the Luganda term for either a tusk or ivory in general. This, Roscoe claimed, was one of the earliest forms of money in Buganda; although clearly indigenous and probably much older than the cowry shell, it also had a cowry value. One disc was apparently worth one hundred shells. Ivory played a dual role insofar as it was on the one hand a commodity valued for its own sake, and on the other a standard medium of exchange. The former role gradually took precedence over the latter, as demand for ivory from the coast increased, so that as the nineteenth century progressed, ivory as money all but disappeared. [...] A third pre-cowry currency has already been mentioned, namely the blue bead, and as we have also already noted, examples of beads have been excavated at Ntusi. From such archaeological evidence, it is possible to suggest that beads may be the oldest currency in the region."
[1]
[1]: (Reid 2010: 126-127) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2H64W34U/collection. |
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The literature suggests that culturally related and geographically adjacent polities in the Great Lakes region did not use paper currency: barter was a common form of exchange, as was the use of tokens (e.g. ivory discs, cowrie shells) and articles (e.g. iron objects). In the case of Rwanda: "Neighbors exchanged goods by barter. Hunters, farmers, and herders exchanged game, leather goods, honey, sorghum, beans, milk, and butter, among other things. Iron objects and hoes above all were preferably exchanged for goats and if possible cattle, but sometimes also for the goods we have just enumerated. Indeed, the hoe was probably already the standard of value as it was in the nineteenth century."
[1]
In the case of Buganda: "As we have noted, pre-colonial Buganda never developed a purely monetary economy, and even during the later nineteenth century barter was an important method of exchange, existing alongside a cowry currency. Nevertheless, the information we have on nineteenth-century prices suggests that virtually everything had at least a nominal cowry value. Moreover, other currencies existed alongside cowries, and some undoubtedly pre-dated the latter. Roscoe mentions a "small ivory disc" which he terms ’sanga’, ssanga being the Luganda term for either a tusk or ivory in general. This, Roscoe claimed, was one of the earliest forms of money in Buganda; although clearly indigenous and probably much older than the cowry shell, it also had a cowry value. [...] A third pre-cowry currency has already been mentioned, namely the blue bead, and as we have also already noted, examples of beads have been excavated at Ntusi. From such archaeological evidence, it is possible to suggest that beads may be the oldest currency in the region."
[2]
[1]: (Vansina 2004: 30) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/5J4MRHUB/collection. [2]: (Reid 2010: 122, 126-127) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2H64W34U/collection. |
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"As we have seen, to secure their essential ties, the ancient states, lacking writing and money, relied on kinship, trust, and personal relationships, which were periodically rekindled by direct contact and exchanged words."
[1]
[1]: (Chrétien 2006: 178) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/FXCVWDRI/collection. |
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"As we have seen, to secure their essential ties, the ancient states, lacking writing and money, relied on kinship, trust, and personal relationships, which were periodically rekindled by direct contact and exchanged words."
[1]
[1]: (Chrétien 2006: 178) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/FXCVWDRI/collection. |
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"As we have seen, to secure their essential ties, the ancient states, lacking writing and money, relied on kinship, trust, and personal relationships, which were periodically rekindled by direct contact and exchanged words."
[1]
[1]: (Chrétien 2006: 178) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/FXCVWDRI/collection. |
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"As we have seen, to secure their essential ties, the ancient states, lacking writing and money, relied on kinship, trust, and personal relationships, which were periodically rekindled by direct contact and exchanged words."
[1]
[1]: (Chrétien 2006: 178) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/FXCVWDRI/collection. |
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"As we have seen, to secure their essential ties, the ancient states, lacking writing and money, relied on kinship, trust, and personal relationships, which were periodically rekindled by direct contact and exchanged words."
[1]
[1]: (Chrétien 2006: 178) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/FXCVWDRI/collection. |
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"As we have seen, to secure their essential ties, the ancient states, lacking writing and money, relied on kinship, trust, and personal relationships, which were periodically rekindled by direct contact and exchanged words."
[1]
[1]: (Chrétien 2006: 178) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/FXCVWDRI/collection. |
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"As we have seen, to secure their essential ties, the ancient states, lacking writing and money, relied on kinship, trust, and personal relationships, which were periodically rekindled by direct contact and exchanged words."
[1]
[1]: (Chrétien 2006: 178) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/FXCVWDRI/collection. |
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"No single currency was in general use. Buhaya used cowrie shells, Ujiji employed special beads, and Pare utilised maize cobs, but none had a fixed value elsewhere."
[1]
[1]: (Iliffe 1979: 68) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SB2AJMVC/collection. |
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