History of Money & Currencies List of the World

 History of Money

Better than barter

Money, one of the earliest and most significant inventions of civilization, is essential to the development of trade. Without it there is only barter, a relationship between two people each of whom has something which the other wants.

Money (which everybody wants) provides an intermediary substance, enabling the seller to choose when and where he wishes to become a buyer.
 
All primitive societies invest certain things with a special value - particularly livestock, and items of rarity or beauty. They are presented on ceremonial occasions such as weddings. The possession of large numbers of cattle or pigs is clear evidence of wealth and prestige.

But these objects are not money in our sense, capable of easy use in everyday transactions.
 
The most often quoted example of primitive money is shells - in Africa cowries and wampum in America. The small cowrie shell, deriving from the Maldive Islands in the Indian Ocean, is a treasured item in the civilizations of China and India from very early times. From India these attractive objects are carried along the trade routes to Africa. Similarly the American Indians use a small white cylindrical shell for ceremonial gifts, embroidered on to decorated belts or other ornaments. Europeans give the name 'wampum' to these precious items.

Both wampum and cowries eventually become a market currency, in the conventional sense, but only after the arrival of Europeans.
 

The earliest currency used in commercial transactions appears in Egypt and Mesopotamia by the third millennium BC. It consists of gold bars which need to be weighed to establish their value each time they are exchanged. Later they are supplemented by gold rings for smaller sums. In about 2500 BC an extensive trade, at Ebla in modern Syria, is based on currency of this kind in silver and gold.

Gold rings and ornaments, which can be worn for safe keeping as well as display, approach the ideal of a portable currency. Many poor women in India today still wear their limited wealth in this way, even when working in the fields or on the roads.

Country	Currency	ISO-4217	Symbol
A
Afghanistan	Afghan afghani	AFN
Albania	Albanian lek	ALL
Algeria	Algerian dinar	DZD
American Samoa	see United States
Andorra	see Spain and France
Angola	Angolan kwanza	AOA
Anguilla	East Caribbean dollar	XCD	EC$
Antigua and Barbuda	East Caribbean dollar	XCD	EC$
Argentina	Argentine peso	ARS
Armenia	Armenian dram	AMD
Aruba	Aruban florin	AWG	ƒ
Australia	Australian dollar	AUD	$
Austria	European euro	EUR	€
Azerbaijan	Azerbaijani manat	AZN
B
Bahamas	Bahamian dollar	BSD	B$
Bahrain	Bahraini dinar	BHD
Bangladesh	Bangladeshi taka	BDT
Barbados	Barbadian dollar	BBD	Bds$
Belarus	Belarusian ruble	BYR	Br
Belgium	European euro	EUR	€
Belize	Belize dollar	BZD	BZ$
Benin	West African CFA franc	XOF	CFA
Bermuda	Bermudian dollar	BMD	BD$
Bhutan	Bhutanese ngultrum	BTN	Nu.
Bolivia	Bolivian boliviano	BOB	Bs.
Bosnia-Herzegovina	Bosnia and Herzegovina konvertibilna marka	BAM	KM
Botswana	Botswana pula	BWP	P
Brazil	Brazilian real	BRL	R$
British Indian Ocean Territory	see United Kingdom
Brunei	Brunei dollar	BND	B$
Bulgaria	Bulgarian lev	BGN
Burkina Faso	West African CFA franc	XOF	CFA
Burma	see Myanmar
Burundi	Burundi franc	BIF	FBu
C
Cambodia	Cambodian riel	KHR
Cameroon	Central African CFA franc	XAF	CFA
Canada	Canadian dollar	CAD	$
Canton and Enderbury Islands	see Kiribati
Cape Verde	Cape Verdean escudo	CVE	Esc
Cayman Islands	Cayman Islands dollar	KYD	KY$
Central African Republic	Central African CFA franc	XAF	CFA
Chad	Central African CFA franc	XAF	CFA
Chile	Chilean peso	CLP	$
China	Chinese renminbi	CNY	¥
Christmas Island	see Australia
Cocos (Keeling) Islands	see Australia
Colombia	Colombian peso	COP	Col$
Comoros	Comorian franc	KMF
Congo	Central African CFA franc	XAF	CFA
Congo, Democratic Republic	Congolese franc	CDF	F
Cook Islands	see New Zealand
Costa Rica	Costa Rican colon	CRC	₡
Côte d'Ivoire	West African CFA franc	XOF	CFA
Croatia	Croatian kuna	HRK	kn
Cuba	Cuban peso	CUC	$
Cyprus	European euro	EUR	€
Czech Republic	Czech koruna	CZK	Kč
D
Denmark	Danish krone	DKK	Kr
Djibouti	Djiboutian franc	DJF	Fdj
Dominica	East Caribbean dollar	XCD	EC$
Dominican Republic	Dominican peso	DOP	RD$
Dronning Maud Land	see Norway
E
East Timor	see Timor-Leste
Ecuador	uses the U.S. Dollar
Egypt	Egyptian pound	EGP	£
El Salvador	uses the U.S. Dollar
Equatorial Guinea	Central African CFA franc	GQE	CFA
Eritrea	Eritrean nakfa	ERN	Nfa
Estonia	Estonian kroon	EEK	KR
Ethiopia	Ethiopian birr	ETB	Br
F
Faeroe Islands (Føroyar)	see Denmark
Falkland Islands	Falkland Islands pound	FKP	£
Fiji	Fijian dollar	FJD	FJ$
Finland	European euro	EUR	€
France	European euro	EUR	€
French Guiana	see France
French Polynesia	CFP franc	XPF	F
G
Gabon	Central African CFA franc	XAF	CFA
Gambia	Gambian dalasi	GMD	D
Georgia	Georgian lari	GEL
Germany	European euro	EUR	€
Ghana	Ghanaian cedi	GHS
Gibraltar	Gibraltar pound	GIP	£
Great Britain	see United Kingdom
Greece	European euro	EUR	€
Greenland	see Denmark
Grenada	East Caribbean dollar	XCD	EC$
Guadeloupe	see France
Guam	see United States
Guatemala	Guatemalan quetzal	GTQ	Q
Guernsey	see United Kingdom
Guinea-Bissau	West African CFA franc	XOF	CFA
Guinea	Guinean franc	GNF	FG
Guyana	Guyanese dollar	GYD	GY$
H
Haiti	Haitian gourde	HTG	G
Heard and McDonald Islands	see Australia
Honduras	Honduran lempira	HNL	L
Hong Kong	Hong Kong dollar	HKD	HK$
Hungary	Hungarian forint	HUF	Ft
I
Iceland	Icelandic króna	ISK	kr
India	Indian rupee	INR
Indonesia	Indonesian rupiah	IDR	Rp
International Monetary Fund	Special Drawing Rights	XDR	SDR
Iran	Iranian rial	IRR
Iraq	Iraqi dinar	IQD
Ireland	European euro	EUR	€
Isle of Man	see United Kingdom
Israel	Israeli new sheqel	ILS
Italy	European euro	EUR	€
Ivory Coast	see Côte d'Ivoire
J
Jamaica	Jamaican dollar	JMD	J$
Japan	Japanese yen	JPY	¥
Jersey	see United Kingdom
Johnston Island	see United States
Jordan	Jordanian dinar	JOD
K
Kampuchea	see Cambodia
Kazakhstan	Kazakhstani tenge	KZT	T
Kenya	Kenyan shilling	KES	KSh
Kiribati	see Australia
Korea, North	North Korean won	KPW	W
Korea, South	South Korean won	KRW	W
Kuwait	Kuwaiti dinar	KWD
Kyrgyzstan	Kyrgyzstani som	KGS
L
Laos	Lao kip	LAK	KN
Latvia	Latvian lats	LVL	Ls
Lebanon	Lebanese lira	LBP
Lesotho	Lesotho loti	LSL	M
Liberia	Liberian dollar	LRD	L$
Libya	Libyan dinar	LYD	LD
Liechtenstein	uses the Swiss Franc
Lithuania	Lithuanian litas	LTL	Lt
Luxembourg	European euro	EUR	€
M
Macau	Macanese pataca	MOP	P
Macedonia (Former Yug. Rep.)	Macedonian denar	MKD
Madagascar	Malagasy ariary	MGA	FMG
Malawi	Malawian kwacha	MWK	MK
Malaysia	Malaysian ringgit	MYR	RM
Maldives	Maldivian rufiyaa	MVR	Rf
Mali	West African CFA franc	XOF	CFA
Malta	European Euro	EUR	€
Martinique	see France
Mauritania	Mauritanian ouguiya	MRO	UM
Mauritius	Mauritian rupee	MUR	Rs
Mayotte	see France
Micronesia	see United States
Midway Islands	see United States
Mexico	Mexican peso	MXN	$
Moldova	Moldovan leu	MDL
Monaco	see France
Mongolia	Mongolian tugrik	MNT	₮
Montenegro	see Italy
Montserrat	East Caribbean dollar	XCD	EC$
Morocco	Moroccan dirham	MAD
Mozambique	Mozambican metical	MZM	MTn
Myanmar	Myanma kyat	MMK	K
N
Nauru	see Australia
Namibia	Namibian dollar	NAD	N$
Nepal	Nepalese rupee	NPR	NRs
Netherlands Antilles	Netherlands Antillean gulden	ANG	NAƒ
Netherlands	European euro	EUR	€
New Caledonia	CFP franc	XPF	F
New Zealand	New Zealand dollar	NZD	NZ$
Nicaragua	Nicaraguan córdoba	NIO	C$
Niger	West African CFA franc	XOF	CFA
Nigeria	Nigerian naira	NGN	₦
Niue	see New Zealand
Norfolk Island	see Australia
Northern Mariana Islands	see United States
Norway	Norwegian krone	NOK	kr
O
Oman	Omani rial	OMR
P
Pakistan	Pakistani rupee	PKR	Rs.
Palau	see United States
Panama	Panamanian balboa	PAB	B./
Papua New Guinea	Papua New Guinean kina	PGK	K
Paraguay	Paraguayan guarani	PYG
Peru	Peruvian nuevo sol	PEN	S/.
Philippines	Philippine peso	PHP	₱
Pitcairn Island	see New Zealand
Poland	Polish zloty	PLN
Portugal	European euro	EUR	€
Puerto Rico	see United States
Q
Qatar	Qatari riyal	QAR	QR
R
Reunion	see France
Romania	Romanian leu	RON	L
Russia	Russian ruble	RUB	R
Rwanda	Rwandan franc	RWF	RF
S
Samoa (Western)	see Western Samoa
Samoa (America)	see United States
San Marino	see Italy
São Tomé and Príncipe	São Tomé and Príncipe dobra	STD	Db
Saudi Arabia	Saudi riyal	SAR	SR
Sénégal	West African CFA franc	XOF	CFA
Serbia	Serbian dinar	RSD	din.
Seychelles	Seychellois rupee	SCR	SR
Sierra Leone	Sierra Leonean leone	SLL	Le
Singapore	Singapore dollar	SGD	S$
Slovakia	European euro	EUR	€
Slovenia	European euro	EUR	€
Solomon Islands	Solomon Islands dollar	SBD	SI$
Somalia	Somali shilling	SOS	Sh.
South Africa	South African rand	ZAR	R
Spain	European euro	EUR	€
Sri Lanka	Sri Lankan rupee	LKR	Rs
St. Helena	Saint Helena pound	SHP	£
St. Kitts and Nevis	East Caribbean dollar	XCD	EC$
St. Lucia	East Caribbean dollar	XCD	EC$
St. Vincent and the Grenadines	East Caribbean dollar	XCD	EC$
Sudan	Sudanese pound	SDG
Suriname	Surinamese dollar	SRD	$
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands	see Norway
Swaziland	Swazi lilangeni	SZL	E
Sweden	Swedish krona	SEK	kr
Switzerland	Swiss franc	CHF	Fr.
Syria	Syrian pound	SYP
T
Tahiti	see French Polynesia
Taiwan	New Taiwan dollar	TWD	NT$
Tajikistan	Tajikistani somoni	TJS
Tanzania	Tanzanian shilling	TZS
Thailand	Thai baht	THB	฿
Timor-Leste	uses the U.S. Dollar
Togo	West African CFA franc	XOF	CFA
Trinidad and Tobago	Trinidad and Tobago dollar	TTD	TT$
Tunisia	Tunisian dinar	TND	DT
Turkey	Turkish new lira	TRY	YTL
Turkmenistan	Turkmen manat	TMT	m
Turks and Caicos Islands	see United States
Tuvalu	see Australia
U
Uganda	Ugandan shilling	UGX	USh
Ukraine	Ukrainian hryvnia	UAH
United Arab Emirates	UAE dirham	AED
United Kingdom	British pound	GBP	£
United States of America	United States dollar	USD	US$
Upper Volta	see Burkina Faso
Uruguay	Uruguayan peso	UYU	$U
Uzbekistan	Uzbekistani som	UZS
V
Vanuatu	Vanuatu vatu	VUV	VT
Vatican	see Italy
Venezuela	Venezuelan bolivar	VEB	Bs
Vietnam	Vietnamese dong	VND	₫
Virgin Islands	see United States
W
Wake Island	see United States
Wallis and Futuna Islands	CFP franc	XPF	F
Western Sahara	see Spain, Mauritania and Morocco
Western Samoa	Samoan tala	WST	WS$
Y
Yemen	Yemeni rial	YER
Z
Zaïre	see Congo, Democratic Republic
Zambia	Zambian kwacha	ZMK	ZK
Zimbabwe	Zimbabwean dollar	ZWR	Z$