Long before the first coin was minted, long before banks and vaults, humans found ways to exchange value.
In the early days of civilization, people lived in small tribes or communities.
Survival depended on cooperation: one person hunted, another gathered, another built tools.
Barter was the first economic system.
If you caught more fish than your family needed, you could trade your extra fish for firewood or baskets or pottery.
No money was needed.
Just trust — and a mutual need.
But barter had major problems:
Double Coincidence of Wants: You had to find someone who wanted exactly what you offered and who had exactly what you needed.Lack of Common Value: How many chickens equal one spear? How many apples equal one pot?Storage and Portability Issues: Some goods, like food, spoiled quickly. Others, like pottery, were heavy and fragile.
As societies grew larger and more complex, barter became increasingly impractical.
A better system was needed.