Edward I Longshanks 1272-1307 Edward I (Longshanks) was the eldest son of Henry III and his queen, Eleanor of Provence. Edward was born in 1239 and at the age of only ten he was named governor of Gascony. In 1254, Edward was married to the Princess Eleanor of Castile. Edward began to take a prominent role in matters of […]

Monetary History of Russia The Russian Monetary System began also with cattle (skot) during the Kievan period. Skins of small animals and precious metals were used as fixed-value exchange rate based upon barter goods. Up until the end of the 12th century, cattle was the unit of account but commerce took place with the skins […]

Monetary History of Korea South Korea Korea did not begin to use money until the Koryo Period (Goryeo 高 麗) (936-1392 AD) when coins from China’s Song Dynasty (宋朝) (960-1279 AD) were actually imported and began to circulate. Prior to this time, barter based on rice and cloth was the principal means of exchange. The […]

Monetary History of Japan As legend has it, Japan was founded around 660BC by a direct descendent of the Sun Goddess. It is from this basic legend that Japan derives the name of “Land of the Rise Sun.” Japan has a long monetary history which dates back to when coins were first introduced from neighboring Korea […]

Monetary History of China   The monetary history of China extends back in time at least 3,000 years. At first, money was sea shells, namely the cowry shell during the Shang Dynasty. Barter was always a dominant means of exchange in China that remained largely an agrarian society. Merchants and moneylenders were not well regarded […]

The Paper Chase Part II ©Copyright June 1988 The Panic of 1869, which caused gold to rally significantly, was in itself a sign to the government that paper money would not win the affections and confidence of the people just yet – this would take time. The question of what was actually money remained an […]

  ©Copyright June 1988 The story of paper money goes back a long way. One could argue that its first emergence was even before 2500BC in Bablyon. For the sake of convienence, banking transactions took place in the form of a clay tablet which served as a “letter or credit.” While such forms of money […]

Part IV of IV—A Brief History of World Credit & Interest Rates by Martin A. Armstrong ©Copyright PEI  1700-Date As with most wars, noble motives are usually portrayed in some slogan that attempts to hide the true underlying financial incentives. The English Crown’s attempt to control and prevent irresponsible paper money issues among the Colonies, […]

Part I of IV—A Brief History of World Credit & Interest Rates by Martin A. Armstrong ©Copyright PEI  3000 BC – 500 AD—The Rise and Fall of Babylon – Greece – Rome Credit is usually thought of as a modern invention of perhaps only a few hundred years old. It is true that a few […]

The Monetary History of the Imperial Rome Chapter I By Martin A. Armstrong Following the death of Julius Caesar and the conclusion of the final civil war of the period, the emergence of a major monetary reform under Augustus changed forever the monetary system of Rome. It is with Augustus that we find a complete […]