Where did the very first paper money appear? When paper money appeared. Financial policy of Great Britain and France

When counting paper banknotes, rarely does anyone think about when and who invented them. It seems that they have always been. They just looked a little different. In fact, the invention of money from paper played an important role in the development of civilization and has interesting story... Where did paper money first appear and why? This will be discussed further.

When there was no paper money. Money prototypes

Money came to Europe from Lydia, now in the west of Turkey, in 687 BC. For their manufacture, gold and silver were used, on which there was an imprint of the seals of local rulers. By the end of the century, a similar form of payment began to be used throughout Europe.

Paper money. Reasons for the appearance of paper money

The appearance of money from metal had a beneficial effect on the development of trade and the economy of the ancient countries. In turn, this led to the fact that part of the population began to live richer.

The merchants began to have problems with the storage and transportation of money. We had to hire carts to transport them from one place to another. In addition, they needed security and a person who would count them.

More and more money was required. Constant wars did not allow the extraction of the required amount of metal for minting coins.

All this caused difficulties and became prerequisites for the emergence of other means of payment.

But when and where did the first paper money appear?

China is the discoverer of paper money. Flying money

The Chinese were the first to find a way out of this situation. They came up with the idea of ​​depositing money. It was like the current bank.

In return, a document was issued that allowed paying with other merchants.

The owner of the "bank" gave the guarantee of solvency. Such receipts were of a private nature. They were called "flying money".

It happened in the 600s of our era.

Putting paper money into use at the state level. Jiaozi

When and where did the first paper money appear in the world? Officially, the first state money was published in the 10th century. At this time, China was ruled by the Song dynasty.

At first, such banknotes had a fixed expiration date and had territorial restrictions. This kind of money was called jiaozi.

Until 1279, the denomination of banknotes was of only two types - "1" and "100".

Yuan

China's economy has taken a leading position in comparison with other countries. Under the rule of the Yuan Dynasty, money ceased to have a validity period. Since then, they have been the main banknotes of this country. Now you know where the first printed paper money appeared. Banknotes began to be printed in 4 different cities of the Middle Kingdom.

This continued until the Mongols conquered the Chinese lands.
The circulation of the yuan was suspended for 10 years. Then they regained their importance, becoming the main means of payment until the 14th century, when the government ceased to control the country's gold reserves, which led to the loss of the value of money.

Preference in calculations began to be given to silver and gold. It wasn't until the 19th century that paper bills in China became recognized again.

The arrival of paper money in Europe. Marco Polo on the appearance of money in China

The famous traveler Marco Polo, having visited China, brought several bills from there to Europe. And in his book he described that he was struck by the presence paper money... He talked about the fact that so many bills have been issued that you can buy a myriad of riches for them. That their solvency is valid for all lands and no one has the right to refuse to accept them. The most important thing is that the piece of paper itself weighs nothing, and you can buy everything for it.

And also, if it becomes unusable, it can be exchanged

But the money itself came to Europe much later.

Leiden money

This happened in 1573-74, in the Netherlands, in Leiden. The city was under blockade. During the Anglo-Spanish War, the inhabitants were in dire need of both food and money. And the burgomaster issued an order to use money made from pressed paper, on which the Catholic Bible was published, instead of metal coins.

After the liberation of the city, this money was withdrawn from use.

But to this day, there are 8 copies of Leyden coins in museums around the world.

History of the first Swiss money

The first European country to switch to paper notes was Switzerland. It happened in 1661.

The initiator of the issue of money from paper was the founder of the first Swiss bank, Johan Palmstruk.

It was money written by hand and certified by the personal signatures and seals of the bankers. There were too many of them released, which made it difficult to exchange them for silver and gold. The government, in order to avoid a scandal, bought the bank and suspended the issue of such banknotes. The banker was put in a debt prison, where he ended his days.

To date, very few of these banknotes have survived; they are of rare museum value.

The first Russian rubles. Elizaveta Petrovna's idea of ​​new money

They study the topic of the appearance of bills in the 2nd grade. Where did the first paper money appear? A whole lesson is devoted to this topic. It will definitely mention that the idea of ​​introducing paper bills in our country was submitted by Elizaveta Petrovna (the years of her reign - from 1741 to 1761). By that time, the country was experiencing a catastrophic shortage of funds. The introduction of new banknotes would simplify financial calculations, reduce the consumption of metal for making coins. She did not have time to implement this project.

Decree of Peter 3

Peter 3, who replaced her, signed the Decree. It spoke about the creation of special banks in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Their authorized capital was 5 million rubles. The duties of the bankers were to issue money out of paper into use, with which it would be possible to pay in the same way as in coins.

The appearance of money under Catherine II

Only Catherine II succeeded in realizing the ideas of her predecessors in 1769. The first order for the issue of money was estimated at 1 million rubles. At this time, the Russian-Turkish war was going on, requiring huge costs.

Banknotes in denominations of 20, 50 and 100 rubles have come into use. The banknotes were of poor quality. It was said that they were made of royal tablecloths. Despite this, that kind of money was in great demand. It was decided to print 5 ruble bills. The color of five-ruble notes was blue, and ten-ruble notes were red.

In total, in 1797, paper money was issued in an amount that amounted to almost 18 billion rubles.

Like other countries, Russia has suffered inflation. Too much money was printed. To defuse the situation, they decided to withdraw some of the money from circulation.

Leather money

At the beginning of the 19th century, a Russian-American company produced and put into circulation 10,000 banknotes, the total solvency of which was 42,000 rubles. They were made from the skin of seals and were in circulation as money until 1862. The current numismatic value such a banknote is equal to the price of gold, equal to it by weight.

Interesting fact about the life of today's money

The average life of the Russian currency today is between two and two and a half years. For the longest time, about 4 years, according to statistics, a 5000-ruble denomination “lives”. A hundred-ruble - only two years.

History of paper money in Japan

The first money in Japan appeared in 1600. These were receipts, they were seen as a guarantee of payment for the goods. The control over the solvency was carried out by priests and merchants.

The modern yen appeared in 1871. Before its approval, there were more than one and a half thousand denominations of banknotes, the exchange of which was completed in 1879.

USA - "continental currency"

In 1771, as soon as the independence of the United States from Britain was proclaimed, at the second congress it was decided to introduce its own money.
This was necessary to strengthen the army and power. It was said that the value of money was supposedly provided by the country's gold reserves.

Such money was called the banknotes of the Treasury, among the people they were called "continental". They got this nickname because “continental currency” was written on the bill. The first currency issue was estimated at $ 13 million.

Gradually, the money came to all European countries. It came to curiosities.

Playing cards instead of money

In France, the Governor of Canada gave a decree to use playing cards... He certified them with a personal signature.

Despite the fact that money became symbolic, people gradually recognized their solvency and began to use it.

Reasons for rejection of new money

The Europeans did not immediately accept that kind of money. Humanity has been using metal coins for a millennium, and it was difficult to change the idea of ​​value. Only those made of gold and silver were considered "real". For a long time, they aroused mistrust among the common population, and preference was given to natural exchange.
In addition, everyone was afraid of the appearance of counterfeit banknotes.

It took a long time before this type of money received recognition. The authorities had to work hard to gain trust

The authorities' response to the mistrust of the new money. Protection methods

Governments have come up with more and more ways to protect money. Money printing ink had a complex composition. They were stamped, the print of which was difficult to forge. A warning about the punishment for counterfeiting was written on the banknote.

Punishment for refusing to use paper money

China took harsh measures, including the death penalty, against those who refused to take payment with such banknotes.

The French authorities were less harsh, for such disobedience 20 years of hard labor were supposed to.

In England, this was seen as treason.

In America, a fine was imposed for refusal.

Africa

Paper money appeared in African countries much later than in European, Asian or American countries. The exchange of goods was in force until the end of the 20th century. People preferred to pay with cattle, slaves, elephant bones and other products necessary for life.

Many years have passed, and humanity is still enjoying the discovery of paper money by the Chinese. This invention passed a difficult path, but played an important role in the development of the economy and trade.

Perhaps today we are witnessing the discovery of new money - virtual, which historians will someday write about.

Money is the most liquid asset to be exchanged for various commodities. They can buy almost any material value in this world. The history of money originates from ancient times and passes through many epochs known to mankind. Let's take a closer look at their evolution and becoming as the main subject for trade.

With the formation of a person, the development and discovery of countries, an active trade in various goods between the peoples of the world began. The ancient tribes acquired the necessary products not for money, but for other means of exchange. Depending on the territory, people bought and sold:

• animal skins - in Siberia, Canada and Alaska;
• cocoa beans - in Mexico;
• pearls and expensive shells - in South America and Oceania;
• cattle meat - in pastoralist tribes;
• fish and seafood in coastal areas.

One of the popular units of exchange was grain, but this “currency” was very unstable: the amount of the harvest depended on the season and climatic features of the year. Over time, it became very inconvenient to use such means of payment, so it became necessary to create another unit.

Gradually, various metals began to play the role of money: copper, iron, silver and others. At first, they were transferred in the form of utensils, then they began to be produced in the form of ingots. However, the ingots had to be constantly weighed, their fineness determined, they were too large and heavy for constant circulation. Over time, people began to label them to prevent counterfeiting and fraud. Thus, the first mints appeared, where they began to mint coins.

The first coins in Europe appeared in the 7th century BC. NS. in 687. They were minted in Libya from a special alloy of gold and silver called "electron". For fifty years, this kind of money has become firmly established in circulation in many countries of the world. In China, coins were minted from copper and had a hole in the center. Due to the convenience of transportation, they were minted and were in circulation almost until the 20th century.

The appearance of the first paper money

In the 8th century, a problem emerged in China: the reserves of raw materials for the manufacture of coins were depleted. Then the country's authorities found another solution - instead of copper, they used small pieces of paper with hieroglyphs written on them. At first, these were receipts for various values ​​that were laid in the shops of the usurers. The appearance of the very first paper money dates back to 910.

In the 13th century, paper money began to be exchanged for gold, which is why they began to actively and in large quantities counterfeit. Despite the fact that this was a great crime, the case brought in substantial income. In 1500, the Chinese government decided to withdraw paper money from circulation due to their excess production and, as a result, increased inflation.

In 1440, Johannes Gutenberg invented the first typewriter, which soon became used to make money in Europe. The first own coins in Russia appeared only in the X century and were minted from silver from gold. Paper money began to be printed here only in the time of Catherine II in 1769. You can read about the history of money in Russia in the next article.

Money circulation is the circulatory system of the economy. Economic growth, economic activity and the well-being of society directly depend on how successfully it functions. However, real full-fledged paper money did not appear in the world at once. Long years in ancient times there was not even such a thing as a denomination. Next, we will consider where and when money first appeared, and for what purpose.

The content of the article:

Why did the money appear?

The very history of the formation of money began in those days when a person, in order to receive a certain product or thing, had to be offered something else in return. For example, if he had a need for an ax, then he looked for the one who had it, found out from its owner what he needed and made an exchange.

The same exchange scheme applies to modern world, but the difference is that in order to get the desired item, you need to pay money to the seller. However, even now the principle of exchange of goods is sometimes used.

Over time, the trade sector began to develop rapidly. Therefore, the participants in the trade (the seller and the buyer) needed to agree on a barter system, that is, to set a price for goods. The most ideal solution to the problem of commodity exchange is the appearance of funds. And since the times, such a concept has been invented as “ currency».

It should be clarified that money was not always in the form we are used to (banknotes and coins). There are examples in history when stones, cows and various objects were used as a form of currency.

In ancient times, each country had its own currency. For example:

• v Africa goods were bought for elephant wool;
• v Iceland- for stone money;
• on islandFiji- for ivory;
• v Siberian regions- for briquettes of tea;
• on Solomon Islands- for tobacco;
• v South America and on Islands of Oceania- for pearls and shells;
• v New Zealand- for stones with a hole in the middle, etc.

Not so long ago, in the 18th century AD, the entrance was ancient Indian money - wampum... They looked like necklaces, which determined by size, color and quantity who should have given whom and in what quantity of tobacco, animal skins, etc.

When and in what year did the first money appear?

Over time, the role of money has changed slightly and many countries have switched from ordinary commodity exchange to metal. At first, ingots, metal stumps and bars were used, and after a certain period of time metal objects ( spearheads and arrowheads, utensils, nails, etc.). It was from the moment such money appeared that great progress in the development of trade relations began.

According to historians, the first prototypes of coins appeared in the ancient Lydian kingdom and China in the 7th century BC.

The Milesian monetary system is considered the oldest issued currency. The money was named after the city of Miletus. The Lydians are the first to start producing coins of the same weight and type.

In the 5th century BC, the Persian king Darius officially abolished commodity barter in his state and introduced metal coins into circulation. In their manufacture, an alloy of gold and silver was used.

However, during the reign Alexander the Great(4th century BC) all of the above money was withdrawn from circulation and replaced by them. The decision to make money only from gold was made taking into account the following factors:

1. Corrosion resistant.
2. Long-lasting and rare material.
3. Minimal risk of inflation, as gold was appreciated in all countries.

From then until the 20th century, gold served as money. However, in China, at the same time, coins were made of iron and such a concept was invented as “ denomination". Thus, the money itself became cheaper to manufacture in comparison with their real price.

The first metal money came to the countries of Eastern Europe from Greece, but it was used as a means of accumulation or for the manufacture of necklaces and other jewelry. Pay with money in Eastern Europe people only started in the 7th century and for this, Arab and Byzantine silver coins were used.

Coin "Prince Vladimir"

From time to time in history there are cases when metal coins ceased to play the role of money and instead of them commodity exchange began again. So, in Russia in the 12-14th century AD there was “ coinless»Period due to the lack of silver supplies from abroad. The first coins in Russia began to be produced in the range of 960 - 1015, just at the time when he ruled. On one side of the coin, the image of the prince himself was applied, and on the other, Jesus Christ.

When and in what country did the first paper money appear?

Particularly noteworthy is the story of how, when and where the first paper money appeared. For an accurate answer to this question, it is necessary to turn to historical facts.

In 600 AD, the Chinese preferred paper money to coins, considering the first a heavy burden. A novelty during that period was “ flying money» Feiqian(a kind of certificates - Fei-Chien), which resemble a modern money transfer system. The new money was called "flying" because the wind could easily carry it away, in contrast to the usual bundles of heavy coins of 3-3.5 kg. To buy a product that was absent in one seller's shop, it was necessary to purchase half of the banknote from him, and transfer the other to a merchant from another province and receive the desired product from him. Thus, the buyer no longer needed to carry a whole bag of metal with him.

However, the historical date when paper money first appeared is 910 AD. And the reason for this was the lack of raw materials for the manufacture of coins. In the 13th century in China, the government decided to replace metal money with a document worth a certain amount to simplify trade. At first, they were in demand only among merchants.

Reference! Even in those days, cases of counterfeiting of paper money are known. In AD 1500, the Chinese government decided to withdraw them from circulation due to overproduction. This ultimately led to 100% inflation.

The paper money was returned again, but in order to avoid further counterfeiting, it was decided to apply watermarks on them, use special paper and specific paint. Their sizes reached today's A4 format and were applied to them with images of people, birds, animals, landscapes, etc.

Over time, the Chinese began to export paper money to European countries, thereby instilling a culture of “such a currency”.

When did the first money appear in Russia?

Before the real currency in Russia, payment for goods and services was carried out by shells cowrie and necklaces made of precious metal. Approximately within the 8th century, they began to be used to calculate dirhams, silver kopecks, called kuns in those years. But already in the 10th century, they were replaced by Western European money, denarii - coins made of thin silver with primitive images of kings. At the end of the same century, Russia had already launched its own minting of silver and gold coins.

Own paper money in Russia appeared in 1769 after the decree of Catherine II of December 29, 1768. The reason for this was that the actively growing Russian economy in the 18th century gave rise to a severe deficit of settlement funds. There was not enough gold and silver, and it was extremely inconvenient to make large payments with copper coins.

For example, 100 rubles of copper dimes by weight was equal to 100 kg.

It is for this reason that the first cash in Russia was issued for the purpose of large-scale further payments. By order of Tsarina Catherine II, money was made only in large denominations (25, 50, 75, 100 rubles).

The first money was not colored and did not have an image on it. But there was text written in black ink on a white sheet.

For example, on 25 rubles, made in St. Petersburg, the text was applied: "The announcer of this state bill is paid by the St. Petersburg bank twenty-five rubles in current coin", and then the signatures of officials were put.

But such rubles were not considered ordinary receipts. And so that they could not be faked, they were specially watermarked. In addition, the inscriptions themselves were embossed relief embossing. These rubles could be easily exchanged for gold, silver or copper coins... But for the first 18 years since their appearance, such an exchange could be made only in two banks: in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Only from 1786, after the imposition of the tsarist decree, it became possible to exchange paper cash for metal in any bank and city of Russia. A year later, a 75-ruble note was withdrawn from circulation. And instead of it, small banknotes were introduced - 5 and 10 rubles. To start producing them in large quantities, a special Tsarskoye Selo Assignment Factory... Thus, full-fledged paper money appeared on the territory.

How paper money appeared in Europe

The first paper money appeared in 1644 in Sweden. There were copper coins in circulation, which were very heavy and constantly lost value due to the Thirty Years War (1618-1648). Then the founder of the Stockholm Bank (Stockholms Banco) Johan Palmstruch (Johan Palmstruch) in the summer of 1661 printed temporary credit securities - Kreditivsedlar. But due to the fact that more papers were printed than the bank could afford, the directors were imprisoned, and the credit papers were withdrawn from circulation.

Norwegian businessman Thor Mohlen secured government support in 1695 and issued paper notes. When they were handed over to the population, people did not understand their essence and carried them back to exchange them for metal coins.

In England, due to power struggles and revolutions, paper money did not appear smoothly either. William Patterson - Scottish merchant and banker, founder of the English bank (1694), created paper documents Goldsmithnotes, which were analogous to a bill. The paper made it possible to exchange it for gold. But in 1797 the "Restriction Act" was issued, according to which the Bank of England stopped exchanging bills of exchange for gold, and a fixed rate was set for securities, which essentially turned them into paper money. In 1820, these papers were again converted into bills of exchange for exchange for gold.

The transition to paper money in France was also not straightforward. During the reign of Louis XIV, the bank "Cashier for commercial accounting" was created (1776), which issued banknotes that reached 40 billion lire. But in 1797, the papers were canceled and the calculations began to be made in coins. Due to the need for high costs during the revolutions in the 19th century, France switched to paper money twice. Only in 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, did paper money with a forced exchange rate appear.

When did the first paper money appear in the USA?

In the 1690s, the first paper banknotes were issued in the English Colony of Massachusetts. In 1775, Continental Money began to be issued.

At the start, banknotes worth 3 million silver dollars were issued. After 4 years, their amount exceeded $ 240 million. Because of this, the rate of new money fell very quickly and in 1780 they were withdrawn from circulation.

Another paper money - "Greenbacks" were printed during civil war(1861-1865). But also at the end of the war, they were eliminated.

The transition to paper money in the United States took place in 1933, when on April 5, Franklin Roosevelt signed decree number 6102. Under the new decree, people were prohibited from holding more than $ 100 worth of gold. For this, a punishment was imposed in the form of an exorbitant fine ($ 10,000) or 10 years in prison.

What money can appear in the future

When and in which country the first paper money appeared, we have already figured out. Now let's talk about the future.

Over the past 10 years, people have been massively switching to electronic money: Yandex.Money, PayPal, WebMoney, etc. In addition, an interesting version of the currency appeared on the world wide web, but far from the real world – cryptographic currency... On this moment its most popular and largest type is Bitcoin... Futurogols predict changes in the coming years appearance money and payment methods.

So, there are several options for what the day will look like and it is possible that all of them will be present at the same time:

1. It is possible that there will be no cash at all. That is, people will see only columns with numbers on various electronic media, which will reflect the balance on the account, the amount to be paid on the loan, etc.
2. It is possible that they will be plastic. Credit and debit cards like this are already familiar to people all over the world.
3. They will be made of materials unknown to humans. For example, scientists in Britain not so long ago created a preliminary version of the space currency - And outwardly, such money may look like ornate disks on which the solar system is depicted. At the same time, when creating them, scientists provided that they could withstand radiation from space.

Conclusion

In this article, we plunged into history and talked about how the first money in the world appeared. Their evolution from ancient centuries BC to the present time is quite large and interesting. But since progress never stands still, money will continue to evolve.

If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.

In ancient times, people still did not know how to melt metals, did not know how to make paper. Therefore, their money was not metal, not paper, but the most diverse. In one place, animal skins were considered money, in another - bird feathers, grain, salt, dried fish, in the third - cocoa beans; in many places, livestock was considered money: sheep, rams, goats, cows, horses.

For such "money", or, as they were called, numismatists, "commodity money", one could not only buy or exchange something, but they could be used in one's own household. For example, plowing on a horse, milking a cow, shearing sheep. Convenient money, isn't it? Only many centuries later, commodity money was pushed out of circulation by the shells of the cowrie mollusk.

Surprisingly, the most real shells. Initially, they were used by the natives of the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. Shiny, light, strong, the size of a hazelnut, they gradually "conquered" many countries in Asia, Africa and Europe. They were transported around the world by Arab merchants.

Cowrie shells went like the first money in countries with a high ancient civilization such as China, Japan and India. Many underdeveloped tribes carried shells-money in a bundle and in case of danger they buried them in the ground as a treasure.

Cowrie existed as the first money until the 20th century, that is, almost to our time. Of course, they are more convenient than hides or grains: they do not deteriorate, do not lose their appearance.

When they talk about ancient times, they say: Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age. Stone - understandable. At that time, people made stone axes, knives, spearheads and arrowheads. The Bronze Age or the Iron Age is also understandable. This means that the tools of labor and hunting were made of bronze or iron, that is, of metals. But were the instruments of labor only made of metal then? Not only.

Already at that time, people learned to cook various alloys... (After all, bronze is an alloy of copper and tin). And the molten metal was poured into molds in the form of fish, shovels, arrows, dolphins. Such were the first metal money - copper, bronze, iron, and a little later - both gold and silver. They were cast in the form of bars, rings, half rings, rods, ingots.

One of these bars - the largest and heaviest - was called "talent." Now they say this about a person gifted with great abilities in some business. And in ancient times this word meant the largest measure of weight - the weight of a live bull. V Ancient Greece, for example, talent weighed in different time from 26 to 60 kilograms.

And they cast their talent in the form of a stretched bovine hide. Of course, we didn’t go shopping with that kind of money. Talent was used to pay off major deals between city-states ...

At that time, the ingots did not indicate, but reflected the value of the metal from which they were made. If, for example, a silver ingot (Greek talent) weighed 60 kilograms of silver, then it was worth as much as 60 kilograms of silver.

In Attica, the polis of which was the famous city of Athens, there was such a monetary account: talent is equal to 60 mines, mine - 100 drachmas, drachma - 6 obols, obol - 8 (sometimes 6) chalks, and sometimes the chalk was divided into mites. Every money account system has a basic unit. In the ancient Attic system - drachma.

The first bullion metal money was much better than commodity money and cowrie shells. They did not deteriorate, did not take up much space, and were also easily divided into parts. And what else had great importance- it was possible to put inscriptions on them. And over time, a great need arose for this.

When a certain inscription is placed on an ingot of silver or gold, it becomes a particularly valuable historical source, because "information about the era is imprinted on it." He becomes able to help us in the knowledge of the past.

How did bars, bars and rods become coins over time? All these bars were of very different weights. But how do you determine the weight while trading? Really weigh each of them every time? What if there is less silver in some?

Yes, that's all right. But what if the goods cost, for example, less than an ingot. What to do then? Then they began to cut off a piece of the required weight from the ingot. For this purpose, they found choppers, hammers, and anvils ... It is clear that it was not immediately possible to chop off the required weight, and the ingot was chopped again and again.

To speed up a trade deal, buyers began to prepare in advance for it: cut ingots at home - into any weight. And in order not to get confused, the chopped pieces were marked with a stamp with a weight designation ...

V Ancient rome in the 8th century BC. began to produce ingots of the same weight. This is how the famous Roman pound weighing 327.45 g appeared. It was in use until the Middle Ages. How much more convenient it has become to use that kind of money!

Later, the first inscriptions appeared on the ingots - the names of the city or state in which they were made. And then the images of the gods - the patrons of the state. And then there were images of princes, kings, emperors - their portraits and symbols of power - coats of arms. Over time, ingots began to be made round. Here they already differed little from modern coins.

Coat of arms - the emblem of a state or city - originated in ancient times as a sign of the owner, master, prince. The prince marked his property with a special sign. And it was a grave crime to encroach on property marked with a princely sign.

On the silver coins and zlotniks of the ancient Russian Kiev princes of the descendants of the legendary prince Rurik - their generic sign of the trident is often found. It was a sign of ownership, which is confirmed by the inscription on the coin ("legend"): "Vladimir, and behold his gold."

The belts of the prince's warriors, weapons, banners were marked with the same sign. Naturally, the trident passed into the sign (coat of arms) Kievan Rus... (Currently, the trident is the emblem of the independent Republic of Ukraine).

Coins with the coats of arms of Rurikovich have survived to this day - Vladimir Svyatoslavovich, Svyatopolk, Yaroslav the Wise and others. By the end of the Tatar-Mongol rule, the Moscow sovereigns, starting with Ivan III, depicted a horseman on coins, slaying a dragon with a spear. Subsequently, this sign became the coat of arms of Moscow.

Under Ivan III, a two-headed eagle appeared on state seals and banners. This eagle, a symbol of spiritual and secular power, "flew in" from Byzantium as a sign of the continuity of this power. Then Moscow, which became the center of the Russian state, sought to declare itself as the Third Rome - the state that replaced Byzantium.

However, the two-headed eagle "sank" on the coins already under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, that is, after about 150 years. There are known silver rubles and fifty rubles of Alexei Mikhailovich in 1654, on which the eagle "settled down" rather thoroughly and comfortably.

In general, the eagles have been in the coats of arms of many European states. Including on the banner of Napoleon. In some countries, eagles remain in coats of arms to this day.

For the first time, this regal bird appeared on the coins of Ancient Greece as a sign of Zeus - God - the Thunderer. From the Greeks, the eagle passed to the standards of the Roman legions. And from the Romans as a symbol of power, he was perceived by European kings.

Finger felon treatment how to treat felon

Paper money appeared much later than metal money. One of the reasons is the development of paper production and printing. The first, apparently, to create paper money, the Chinese, since the production of paper originated in China. Attempts to replace metal money with some other were made by the Chinese thousands of years ago. Back in the 1st century BC. they created the equivalent of deer skin money. These "banknotes" looked like rectangular plates. Seals and special marks were applied to the skin.

The inhabitants of the Celestial Empire started making real paper money at the beginning of the 9th century AD. True, only in the 10th-11th centuries did paper money become part of the official economic policy of the state. Until that moment, bills did not occupy a significant place in monetary policy. The first paper money was called "flying" because of its lightness in relation to standard metal coins... These were, rather, certificates, the solvency of which was ensured by the djians (farmsteads) of the capital's authorities.

By the way, at the very beginning it is worth explaining the concept of fiduciary (from Lat. Fiducia - trust) or fiat (from Lat. Fiat - decree, indication, "so be it") money or credit money. This is money, the nominal value of which is established and guaranteed by the state, regardless of the value of the material from which the money is made or stored in the bank's vault (unsecured money). Oftentimes, fiduciary money functions as means of payment on the basis of state laws obliging them to be adopted at par. The value of fiduciary money is supported by people's belief that they can exchange it for something of value.

The earliest paper note known to historians

At that time, the most popular currency of the country was copper money, which was worn in bundles. The weight of the bundle was about 3 kilograms, so the surprise of ordinary Chinese who saw paper money for the first time is understandable. Paper certificates were introduced at the beginning of the 9th century, when trade between individual regions China has intensified. It was difficult for merchants to transport hundreds of kilograms of money across the country, so the government found a replacement for the metal. In addition to the fact that copper money was inconvenient, copper at that time was also the most valuable material, which they decided to use in other industries.

Already in 1050, the paper equivalent of money in China looked very good.

The process of receiving paper money by a merchant was as follows. A Chinese merchant handed over copper money to the government's courtyard, and received a paper receipt instead, a certificate that allowed him to exchange it again for copper money in almost any region of China. The regional authorities were allowed to keep the copper money, and not take everything to the imperial courtyard. Banknotes (of course, that's what they were called hundreds of years later and not by the Chinese at all), basically, were issued for large amounts, since there was no point in making a certificate for small amounts. Upon receipt of the certificate and its transfer into cash, the merchant ended up receiving slightly less money than he invested - the state took a certain percentage. When it was increased to 10%, traders almost stopped using certificates, considering the costs of using paper too high, and continued to work with metallic money.

By the way, already in Russia, many hundreds of years later, to denote the market rates of banknotes, bills of exchange, other securities in comparison with the face value, the term "crap" appeared. This is where the modern "mess" came from.

Copper money in ancient China

Historians believe that the first real paper money in China replaced certificate checks in the 10th century. Moreover, they were produced by private, not government enterprises. At the end of the 10th century, the Chinese authorities allowed several banks to issue banknotes of a certain denomination. Several decades later, with the development of printing and typography, high-quality drawings began to be applied to paper notes: buildings, trees, people. Moreover, the printers used inks of different colors (mainly red and black inks, a little later they added blue), as well as special signs and seals. It was not easy to forge them even then. Traders began to use paper money more readily than earlier checks.

Clichés used by the Chinese to print paper notes

After some time, the Chinese government decided to introduce a monopoly, and the Imperial Bank of China became responsible for the issue of banknotes. The money issued by this bank had a limited duration of only three years. Each bill was stamped with the date of issue, so that users of paper money knew when the bill came to an end. Over time, counterfeiters learned how to make paper bills, so the government had to complicate the printing process over and over again by adding different elements and changing the structure of the paper. This is one of the reasons why a third color, blue, was added.

In the XII century, two types of banknotes were released into circulation: the equivalent of 10,000 coins and the equivalent of 700 coins. There was already a different period of validity - not three years, but seven. True, the government stopped ensuring that the banknotes were secured with something, and inflation began, which was exacerbated by the intensified counterfeiting of money by enterprising counterfeiters.

Russia

In Russia, paper money appeared for a number of reasons. The main one is the shortage of silver. Every year the country needed about 2 million rubles in silver, which required much more silver than the silver mines gave. In addition, tax collection turned into an organization of caravans with a large number of carts and guards. The fact is that 500 rubles at that time was a whole cart of copper money. And taxes were paid mainly in copper money, so many carts were required. In order to solve all these problems, in 1769 it was decided to issue paper money, banknotes.

Catherine the Second ordered to open two banks in Moscow and St. Petersburg, which were allocated 500 thousand rubles each in metal. For this amount, banknotes of 25, 50, 75 and 100 rubles were made. Thus, initially in Russia, paper money was provided with real funds.

Assignment of 1769

The banknotes were of very poor quality, and a large number of counterfeiters appeared who began to forge "paper" of any denomination. A few years later, it was decided to withdraw such banknotes from circulation, replacing them with others, of better quality. When replacing, new banknotes with a denomination of 5 and 10 rubles were also printed. And again, thanks to the uncontrolled emission, the depreciation of paper funds began. In 1797, banknotes worth about 6 million rubles were withdrawn from circulation - this was an attempt to avoid their further depreciation. But wars demanded money, and printing presses began to work even more actively. It is clear that this led to a rapid significant drop in the exchange rate of the paper ruble in relation to metal money. From the original 100 metal kopecks per ruble, the exchange rate dropped to 25 kopecks per ruble by 1810. Understanding the threat of paper money, Alexander the First issued in 1810 a decree on the termination of the further issue of banknotes.

Assignment 1802

Despite this, five years later, the exchange rate of the paper ruble fell to 20 kopecks. At the same time, it was decided to replace banknotes with special high-quality banknotes. For their production, a whole small town was rebuilt with a paper mill, a printing house, workshops and apartments for employees and workers. The Expedition of Preparing State Papers was opened in 1818.

In 1839 the silver ruble became the main means of payment, and in 1843 the manifesto "On the replacement of bank notes and other banknotes with credit notes" was issued.

Gradually, paper money became the main means of payment in most countries of the world. Now they are starting to replace paper with plastic, so it is quite possible that in the near future, citizens of some countries will only use plastic bills.

Or, in general, paper money will be replaced by electronic money. True, waiting for this moment is still a very long time.

Tags: Add Tags