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  Paper money (also banknote or bill) was first invented in China’s Song Dynasty (CE 960-1279) after a long process that can be traced back to the 3rd century BCE. Eventually‚ coin currency became too cumbersome and devalued‚ so various economists‚ philosophers‚ and emperors looked for answers. By the medieval era‚ the Chinese had developed new technologies‚ as well as different ways of visualizing money‚ which allowed them to develop the world’s first paper money. The following is an examination of the process that led to the emergence of paper money in medieval China.   Before Paper Money Gold Stater‚ 560-546 BCE‚ Metropolitan Source: Museum of Art   The development of paper money was the result of a long process that began centuries earlier‚ thousands of miles away in the Near East. The Lydians were the first people to mint state supported coined currency in the 7th century BCE‚ and shortly after others followed. The Achaemenid Persians‚ Greeks‚ and Romans all developed coined currency from silver‚ gold‚ bronze‚ and copper‚ which provided the basis for the economies of medieval Europe and the Middle East. But as coined currency was being developed in the West‚ it was also flourishing independently in the East.   The Mauryan dynasty of India (c. 321-185 BCE)‚ the Qin dynasty of China (221-206 BCE)‚ and the Han dynasty of China (206 BCE-CE 220) were the earliest and most successful Asian states to utilize coined currency. These states disseminated the idea of coined currency throughout southern and eastern Asia‚ helping to prepare the continent for the eventual development of paper money. It was in late antiquity when the economic ideas of the West and East finally met along the Silk Road‚ which proved to be another major step in the development of money.   The Silk Road and Coined Currency Gold Coin of the Kushan Emperor Kanishka I‚ CE 127-150. Souce: Metropolitan Museum of Art   The Silk Road was actually a series of overland and sea routes that connected east Asia with the Middle East and Europe. The first Silk Road system existed from the late-2nd century BCE to the mid-3rd century CE‚ which was responsible for moving goods‚ ideas‚ and people. The first Silk Road system included the states of Han China‚ Parthian Persia‚ Rome‚ and the Kushan Empire. Among those states‚ the Kushan Empire is often overlooked‚ but its leaders played an important role in the development of coin and paper currency.   All four of the major Silk Road states used copper‚ bronze‚ gold‚ and silver coins‚ but they used different systems of weights. A Roman‚ Kushan‚ Parthian‚ and Han silver coin may have looked similar‚ but because they often had different weights their inherent values were different. This situation could and did cause problems for long-distance merchants who wanted to trade coins of one empire for another. The Kushan rulers came up with a simple yet effective way to convert one trade or convert currencies by introducing a Kushan coin that was based on the Roman weight standard. Ideas such as this would percolate throughout the late ancient and early medieval worlds‚ ultimately leading to the creation of paper money and monetary standardization.   Chinese Coined Currency  “String” Guan Coins‚ Han Dynasty (206 BCE-CE 220). Source: British Museum   As coined currency developed in China‚ it looked physically different than coinage in other locations. The Han and Qin authorities developed a method of standardization known as “strings” or guan. In this system‚ 1‚000 bronze coins with square holes were threaded together to create one “string” or guan‚ making it the currency standard of ancient China. The guan standard was codified in the Tang dynasty (CE 618-907)‚ but during that time the Chinese economy moved closer to paper money.   Landscape Painting and Text‚ Song Dynasty (CE 960-1279). Source: Palace Museum   The first use of paper banknotes‚ known as “flying cash‚” was in the early 800s between provinces. This was because‚ although the guan was the standard of the Tang government‚ different regional coins were still used. Originally‚ flying cash was just used by provincial officials‚ but it was also later permitted for merchant use. The evolution to paper money was well underway when the Song dynasty came to power‚ but other conditions still needed to be met.   The Transition to Paper Money in the Song Bronze “String” Coin‚ Reign of Huizong of Song‚ 1101-1125. Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art   The Emperor Taizu (ruled CE 960-976) further standardized China’s coin currency across all regions by eliminating existing regional coins. The new‚ standardized coin became known as the Song yuan tongbao (primary circulating treasure of the Song)‚ but it quickly encountered problems. By 1080 there were five million strings of the Song yuan tongbao in circulation‚ which itself was probably too much. Lead was added to the high number of bronze-coined currency circulating in the Song economy‚ which created crippling inflation. The otherwise prosperous and stable Song economy began to teeter‚ so forward-thinking leaders looked to paper for a solution.   In addition to the devaluation of the coined currency‚ a number of other factors‚ some practical and some philosophical‚ led to the use of paper money. First‚ the high demand for bronze‚ copper‚ and iron created a dearth of materials to make coins. Iron and copper were needed to make weapons and tools for the expanding Song Empire‚ and bronze is an alloy derived partially from copper. As the Chinese began using these commodities for things other than coinage‚ they began to view the concept of money differently. Song officials and philosophers began to see money not so much for the value of the token itself‚ but as a means of payment and exchange. Once this view was accepted‚ then the transition to paper currency was inevitable.   Song-era Ceramic Container‚ 960-1279. Source: Palace Museum   The transition to paper money would not have been possible without the proper technology. The invention of the movable type press‚ probably by Bi Shen in the 1040s‚ combined with the existing knowledge of paper making‚ made paper money a reality. Unfortunately‚ no samples of the earliest paper currency notes survive‚ although texts from the era describe how they were made and what they looked like. The notes were made through multiple impressions of three colors: red‚ black‚ and blue. The notes were marked by their value and decorated with narrative scenes and iconic emblems of the era.   One interesting element of early paper currency in China that may have been a component of both its success and failure was its decentralization. A number of different paper currencies were issued during the Song dynasty‚ with no single currency existing until the final decade of the dynasty. Instead‚ there were several “currency zones” throughout the empire‚ where regional officials would issue their own currencies that were authorized by the emperor. The earliest paper currency used was the jiaozi in Sichuan‚ which proved to be quite successful. In 1160‚ the paper currency known as the huizi was first issued by Goazong (ruled 1127-1162)‚ the first emperor of the Southern Song dynasty. The huizi would become the most important and widespread of all paper currencies.   “String” Coins from the early Ming Dynasty‚ 1368-1398. Source: British Museum   The huizi was far ahead of its time in many ways. The emperor issued each series of the note with fixed terms of expiration to fight inflation and lessen the effects of counterfeiting. Between 1168 and 1264 the Southern Song emperors issued eighteen series of the huizi. The Song central economy planners tied the huizi to the coined currency still active‚ with one huizi equaling one guan. Later‚ smaller paper denominations were printed that equaled partial strings of 200‚ 300‚ and 500 coins. The huizi was backed by silver‚ so the value of printed notes was theoretically not supposed to surpass the value of the silver supply. The Song leaders eventually printed more money than the value of the silver supply‚ devaluing the currency and creating inflation.   Early Paper Money Elsewhere Gold Coin of the Fatimid Caliph al-Mustansir Billah‚ 1036-1094. Source: British Museum   The primary rival of the early Song dynasty was the Jurchen Jin dynasty in northeastern China. The Jurchens eventually forced their way into Song territory‚ conquering northern China and vanquishing the Song dynasty to southern China. From 1127 to 1234 the Jurchens ruled northern China‚ following a policy of cultural and economic continuity from the Song. The Jurchens issued paper money notes beginning in the mid-1150s based on the Song notes originally issued in the Sichuan zone. The concept of paper money was then inherited when the Mongols conquered China and established the Yuan dynasty in 1271. As these advances in paper currency were taking place in the East‚ the West was lagging far behind‚ although some innovations were taking place there as well.   The legendary crusader military order‚ Knights Templar‚ were the first people to develop a proto-paper money in Europe. Churches throughout western Europe served as banks for the Templars‚ who serviced knights and other pilgrims who traveled to the Holy Land during the Crusades in the 13th century. The process worked in the following manner. A pilgrim would deposit his funds at a church or Templar castle in Europe‚ be given a paper note‚ and would then make the long journey. Once the pilgrim arrived in the Holy Land‚ he simply redeemed the note for coined currency‚ minus a small service charge. Although the Templars initially avoided charges of usury by not charging interest‚ they were still subjected to the Inquisition in 1312. The idea of paper money in Europe temporarily died with the Inquisition‚ but it was likely revived by the Silk Road when European merchants came into contact with Mongol paper money‚ later bringing the idea back to Europe. By the late High Middle Ages the idea of coined and paper currency had come full circle along the Silk Road.

  Colonialism is seldom associated with Sweden. Yet the Swedes were involved in various colonial ventures‚ from the short-lived West African Swedish Gold Coast (1649-1663) to New Sweden (1638-1655) in present-day Delaware‚ and the more successful colonization of the Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy (1784-1878). Closer to home‚ the “Era of Great Power” (1611-1718) was defined by a Swedish Empire around the Baltic Sea. Around the same time‚ Sweden began to exert greater control over the indigenous Sámi people and their lands in the northern Swedish province of Lapland.    The Era of Great Power The Swedish Empire around the Baltic Sea (1560-1815).   The Swedish “Era of Great Power” commenced in 1611 with the reign of King Gustav Adolf II and concluded in 1721 following Sweden’s territorial losses in the Great Northern War (1700–1721). Admired and studied by military greats from Clausewitz to Napoleon Bonaparte‚ Gustav Adolf was one of the greatest military commanders in modern history. During his rule‚ Sweden was transformed from a regional Baltic power to one of the Great Powers of Europe. At its height‚ the Swedish Empire around the Baltic Sea encompassed modern-day Finland‚ and parts of Russia‚ Lithuania‚ Estonia‚ Poland‚ Germany‚ and Norway.    Eventual defeat in the Great Northern War and the subsequent division of Sweden’s dominions between the victors brought the empire to an end. However‚ defeat in the Baltic failed to dampen Swedish ambitions to develop colonial rule in more distant lands.    New Sweden Present-day Delaware as part of New Sweden‚ 1638 (in blue). Source: Nationalgeographic.org   New Sweden was intended as the first step towards a Swedish empire in the New World. On 29 March 1638 two Swedish ships‚ the Fogel Grip and Kalmar Nyckel‚ sailed into Delaware Bay and dropped anchor at Swedes Landing. The Swedes promptly built Fort Christina‚ and shortly thereafter met with a group of indigenous Lenape chiefs to purchase and secure sixty-seven miles of Delaware riverfront.    New Sweden initially flourished. Successive Governors expanded the colony and established strong trading relations with the Lenape. Multiple ships arrived full of goods to trade‚ and new settlers‚ from Forest Finns to vagrants and criminals‚ were rounded up by the Swedish authorities and sent to colonize America. However‚ in 1655‚ disaster struck when seven Dutch ships full of soldiers arrived on the Delaware River. Victory was swift‚ and with the fall of New Sweden‚ came the end of Swedish colonial ambitions in the New World.     The Swedish Africa Company Bredewa‚ the King of Fetu‚ with the Swedish commissioner Neumann in or near Degou (the contemporary Cape Coast in Ghana) in 1648.   In 1649‚ Louis De Geer founded the Swedish Africa Company (SAC) to trade with West Africa‚ under the protection of the Swedish Crown. A year later the company arrived in Cabo Corso (present-day Ghana). The SAC swiftly signed a treaty with Bredewa‚ the local King of Fetu to erect a “stoney house” for the purpose of trade. Fort Carlsborg was constructed in 1653‚ with the express aim of participating in the slave trade. The master plan of the Swedish Africa Company was to cross the Atlantic‚ bypass the mercantilist European powers‚ and illegally sell their slaves to markets in Spanish America.   The plan failed. However‚ the SAC nonetheless pioneered the transformation of the Gold Coast into the slave coast – a principal hub of the transatlantic slave trade. In 1663 the Swedish Gold Coast was sold to the Dutch and the SAC was abolished.    Saint Barthélemy The Swedish free port of Gustavia (1799). Source: Wikimedia Commons   In 1784‚ Sweden acquired the island of Saint Barthélemy in exchange for trading rights in Gothenburg. The island remained a Swedish colonial possession for almost a century. Without a large empire of its own Sweden had to navigate between imperial powers‚ and rely on its neutral status‚ or the needs of other Imperial powers. Saint Barthélemy served to grant the Swedes a place at the table. During times of war‚ mariners and foreign merchants came to Saint Barthélemy to do business. This allowed the Swedish colony to earn a significant income as a facilitator of the slave trade.    Saint Barthelemy was too small to support a plantation economy. Instead‚ slaves were sold in the free port of Gustavia and retained on the island‚ or exported to nearby colonies. For a time‚ Saint Barthélemy prospered. However‚ by the 1840s the colony was in serious decline. In 1877 Saint Barthélemy was sold back to France.    The Colonization of Sámpi Sami people traveling with reindeer and sleighs on the ice on Lake Luossajärvi near Kiruna in Swedish Lappland (1930). Source: Wikimedia Commons   The Sámi are the indigenous inhabitants of Sámpi‚ a region that stretches across northern Norway‚ Sweden‚ Finland‚ and Russia. The Swedish part of this region is known as Lapland. While the colonization of Sámpi by southern-dwelling Scandinavian Swedes dates to the era of Gustav Vasa (1523-1560)‚ the prospect of abundant natural resources during the industrial era rapidly accelerated the process. Successive government legislation has affected the livelihoods of the Sámi‚ from the first Reindeer Grazing Act (1886) and the Nomad Schools Act (1913)‚ to the targeting of the Sámi as a “scientifically” inferior race by the Swedish State Institute for Race Biology in the 1920s.   Today‚ the Sámi continue to fight against large-scale land projects and extractive industries‚ for the right to their lands. A Truth Commission was set up by the Swedish government in 2021 to address the legacy of historical injustices faced by the Sámi people. It is due to report in 2025.