by Joep van der Werff

You go to the corner store and buy a carton of milk and

some eggs. You pay and you leave. That's normal, right?
Your parents buy some new clothes for you: a pair of
blue jeans and a nice T-shirt. When they pay, they
don't even need money. They pull a piece of plastic
from their wallet, give it to the cashier and that's it.
That's what credit cards are for, right?
It's hard for us to believe that there once was a time
when credit cards didn't exist. There was even a time
when money didn't exist!
rimitive Money
Some commodities or primitive
money are: amber, beads,
cocoa beans, cowries (large
shells), drums, eggs, feathers,
gongs, hoes (a tool to work
the land), ivory, jade, kettles
(to cook water), leather, mats
(to cover the floor), nails,
oxen (strong bulls), pigs,
quartz (a crystal), rice, salt,
thimbles (a tool for making
clothes), vodka and yarns
(wool for making clothes)
Commodities had to be easy to store, easy to carry around and
everybody had to agree about their value. They also needed to
be durable. Old and wrinkled cocoa beans had less value than
new ones!
le in cho
ose one?
a
An important barter or commodity was cattle. Cows, sheep
and goats were important in early civilizations. They provided
meat for food, wool and skins for clothes and bones for tools.
Equally important was the ceremonial or religious value of
cattle. They were used for offerings. Cattle were a primitive
logues
format o
comic?
grammo
mic?
hen pre
a family had, the richer they were
cattle n.-farm animals of ox family
offering n.-gift for gods
Banks
Banks have always existed, right? No, wrong! Banks
were invented in Mesopotamia in the Middle East. Royal
temples and palaces were considered secure p
eep the commodities. Temple officials gave out official
receipts, just like a bank does todary
Metal Mone
About four thousand years ago
people started using metal as
money, but coins did not exist
yet. The weight of the pieces of
metal determined their value
One of the first forms of coins was from China. The Chinese
used cowry shells as money and their first coins were cowry
shells made of metal (bronze or copper)
The first real coins were probably made in Greece about 630
B.C. The coins had a standard form, weight and purity of
metal. Drachmas were made of silver and other coins were
made of cheaper metal.
The invention of
paper money happened
in China, too. Around the year
1,000, there wasn't enough copper
o make coins. Emperor Hien Tsung
ordered the production of paper
money. Later, the Chinese
went back to the familiar
metal coins.
er Money
2
eceipt n.-written acknowledgment that things, such as money, have been
iven to the person
oin n.-piece of metal money
The Dangers of Credit Cards
Credit cards are wonderful if you have money to pay for what
you buy. If you don't pay your debt completely, you can have
serious problems. In a few years, you could have your own
credit card and you should know how to use it. Let's look at
an example
Imagine you go to a mall with your friends or with your
and you buy clothes, a new camera and some DVDs
The total bill is two hundred dollars. You pay with a credit
card. The next month, your bank statement arives. You need
to pay your credit card. Imagine you have only one hundred
dollars to pay your debt. Now you will have to pay interest.
This means you now owe more than one hundred dollars. If
you follow this pattern every month, you quickly owe more
t than the original expenses! For example, a onde
hundred dollar debt can become a
five hundred dollar debt. You will
never be able to pay back that
much money
Many adults ignore the dangers
of spending with credit cards
and they have terrible debts.
Ask in your family if people
have (or have had) problems
be surprised about their
experiences