What is Money?
{{other uses}} [[File:Euro coins and banknotes.jpg|thumb|[[Euro]] coins and bank notes]] [[File:National-Debt-Gillray.jpeg|thumb|In a 1786 [[James Gillray]] caricature, the plentiful money bags handed to [[King George III]] are contrasted with the beggar whose legs and arms were amputated, in the left corner|250px]]'''Money,''' also sometimes called '''currency''', can be defined as anything that [[people]] use go and to [[buy]] goods and [[service]]s. Money is what many people receive for selling their own things or services. There are lots of different kinds of money in the world. Most countries have their own kind of money, such as the [[United States dollar]] or the [[British]] [[Pound (currency)|pound]]. ==History== The idea of [[Barter|bartering]] things is very old.<ref name=NOVA>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/history-money.html |title=The History of Money |author=NOVA |date=26 October 1996 |website=NOVA |publisher=WGBH Educational Foundation |accessdate=23 April 2015}}</ref> A long time ago, people did not buy or sell with money. Instead, they traded one thing for another to get what they wanted or needed.<ref name=NOVA/> One person who owned many cows could trade with another person who had a lot of [[wheat]]. Each would trade a little of what he had with the other. This would support the people on his farm. Other things that were easier to carry around than cows also came to be held as valuable. This gave rise to trade items such as [[jewelry]] and [[spices]]. [[File:BMC 06.jpg|thumb|left|150px|{{Center|Early 6th century [[BC]] Lydian coin}}]] When people changed from trading in things like, for example, cows and wheat to using money instead, they needed things that would last a long time. They must still have a known value, and could be carried around. The first country in the world to make metal [[coin]]s was called [[Lydia]].<ref name=BritMuseum>{{cite web |url=http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/themes/money/the_origins_of_coinage.aspx |title=The origins of coinage |author=