A History of American Currency Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

A History of American Currency - Essay Example The specific paper focuses on the presentation of the history of currency in America for the years 1000 up to 1877; however not sufficient information exists for the whole period mentioned above. More specifically, America is a continent the history of which is clearly known only after a particular point of time: the establishment of the first colonies in various regions across the continent. Before the specific period of time just a few hypotheses can be made regarding the currency (referring to the various ‘means’ of exchanging goods of a specific value) used by natives, especially Indians in their daily transactions. After the entrance of people from Europe (especially English but also Spanish and French) in America, a specific monetary system began to be created in the continent; this system had many of the characteristics of the one used previously by Indians while several changes were made (in accordance with the economy of the colonists involved) in order for the various transactions with the mother – country to be completed successfully. The reference specifically to England when describing the monetary history of America is unavoidable; the specific country represented the majority of people that entered America and for this reason the monetary system of England has been considered to be the basis for the American economy – although it was rather a gradual development. As for natives (Indians or Amerindians) they gradually lost their right to intervene in the financial development of their region and had to be adapted to the new monetary standards implemented by colonists. In this context, the monetary history of America (referring to the currency in its form that is similar with its current one) could be regarded as beginning in the 17th century. Regarding this issue, it is noticed by Delage et al. (1993, 141) that ‘in the years that followed 1650 the Amerindians found themselves losing control of their