TechnologyEast Asia
Paper money
Value detached from the metal it is made of
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China also had the world's first inflation crises from printing too much, and abandoned paper money in the fifteenth century after repeated collapses. Marco Polo described the system and Europeans did not believe him. The West did not adopt it until the seventeenth century, and then had the same lessons to learn again.
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Merchants in Sichuan began using receipts instead of heavy coins, and the state made it official currency in 1023. Paper money is worth something only because everyone agrees it is — the world's first true fiat currency.
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Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org