Coins and trade routes

When there was no money, people made what they needed themselves or swapped goods for goods. As crafts, herding and trade grew, a handy means of exchange was needed, and the metal coin appeared. A coin is a metal money with signs stamped on it and a set weight and value. Archaeologists have found the oldest coins in Lydia (western Turkey today), dated to the 7th century BCE; Lydian coins were struck from an alloy of gold and silver. Later, under the Persian king Darius I, the “daric” was issued from about 8.4 grams of pure gold. Coins are witnesses of history: the metal shows a state’s wealth, the weight and quality show its economy; the writing and picture give the ruler’s name, the state and sometimes the year of minting; and where coins are found shows trade links. Coins of Alexander of Macedon, Julius Caesar and the Greco-Bactrian ruler Eucratides are like this. We have our own coins: the Uzbek currency, the so‘m, was put into circulation on 1 July 1994. Jubilee coins show scholars and cities, for example coins issued for Amir Temur and for the 2,200th anniversary of Tashkent.