Everyone loves money, but do you know where money originally came from? Do you know who were the first people to use money? Scientists say that over 10,000 years ago, people in Swaziland, Southern Africa, were using red dye as a type of money. The aboriginal people of Australia were also using a similar dye as a type of money around that period of time. Later, people in several other parts of the world used shells and other valuable things as a type of money to buy or trade for things they wanted. This is known as a barter system, a form of trade where some goods are exchanged for other goods.

Many things have been used as money, from pigs to spices to salt. For a long time, pepper could be used to pay for things in Europe. On the Micronesian island of Yap, people used very big stone "coins," some of which were up to eight feet wide and weighed more than a small car.

However, the most convenient forms of money were pieces of valuable metals like gold and silver. Historians think that the Lydians were the first people to introduce the use of gold and silver coins around 650 BC. Gold and silver are still quite valuable today.

The first banknotes appeared in China in the seventh century, and the first banknotes in Europe were issued in 1661.

Money has changed through the ages, but it has always been important. Whether it's paper or pigs, most people like to have some money.

人人都愛錢，但是你知道錢的起源嗎？你知道最先使用錢的民族嗎？科學家指出，在一萬多 年前，南非史瓦濟蘭的人民就使用紅色的染料來當做貨幣。同一時期左右，澳洲原住民亦使用相似的染料做為貨幣。隨後，世界上一些其他地方的民族，使用貝殼和其他珍貴物品當成貨幣，用來購物或交換物品，這就是所謂的易貨制度，也就是一種以物易物的商業形式。

許多物品都曾被當做貨幣，從豬隻到香料、鹽巴等等。過去有很長一段時間，胡椒是歐洲盛 行的付款工具。密克羅尼西亞的雅浦島人民，則使用碩大的「石幣」，有些石幣甚至寬達八英呎，重量超過一部小汽車。

不過，最便利的貨幣形式，莫過於黃金和白銀等貴金屬。歷史學家認為，大約西元前650年，利底亞人是最先使用金幣和銀幣的民族。直至今日，黃金與白銀仍為相當貴重的物品。

鈔票的首次使用，則出現在西元7世紀的中國，歐洲則是到了1661年才發行第一批鈔票。

雖然經過歲月更迭，貨幣也隨之演變，但其重要程度依然不減。無論是紙鈔或豬隻，大多數人還是喜歡身上有錢的感覺。