What is Bartering?

Social Studies Online

Blue Print Skill

 Differentiate
between money
and barter
economies.
No Money?

 It's hard to imagine our world without

money, isn't it?
 A long time ago there were no coins.
There was no such thing as money.
 Before money was invented people had
to get their food, clothing and other
needs by trading things.
A special kind of trading…

 There is a special name for this kind of

trading. The name is barter.
 Bartering is the exchange of goods and
services without the use of money.
Why do people barter?

 People traded some of the things they

didn't need for things they wanted or
needed. Even then people had different
jobs and skills. The good hunter might
trade 10 rabbits to the carpenter for the
carpenter's promise to fix his roof.
What was traded?
 All sorts of things
could be used as
money if people
agreed on their value
and accepted them
in trade.
 In some places you
could always make a
trade if you had a
cow.
Salt was valuable.

 Salt was hard to find and very valuable to

people. Everybody wanted salt to flavor
and preserve their food. So salt was used
for money. In ancient Rome the soldiers
were paid with salt.
There are problems with
bartering.

 What happened when you had

something to trade but nobody wanted it?
 What happened when the traders
couldn't agree on what was a fair trade?
 Do you have what
someone wants?
 The main disadvantage of barter is that it
requires a double coincidence of wants.
Both people have to have what the other
one wants and be willing to swap with
each other. This caused people to
develop a standard for value of items.
 One example was called wampum.
What is wampum?

 Wampum were
beads usually made
from the Northern
Quahog, a hard-shell
clam.
More wampum…

 Native Americans used a form

of bartering using wampum.
 In the 1620’s settlers in New
York use wampum for coinage
and trade with local Native
American tribes.
Metal as Money

 Because beads broke and goods often

spoiled, people began using metal for
money. They used copper, iron, bronze,
gold and silver. Metal wouldn't get sick,
spoil, or break.
Metal for money

 Metal could be carried around much

easier than a cow or sacks of grain! In
the beginning people used lumps of
metal, chunks of metal, and metal in all
shapes and sizes.
 The heavier the piece of metal was, the
more you could buy with it.
Weighing metal…

 When one man gave another man a

piece of metal, the other man weighed it
with a scale. This was done every time a
person gave another person a chunk of
metal to make sure that nobody cheated
anybody else.
 Weighing metals took time and wasn't
very convenient for anyone.
Money, money, money!!!

 People decided to weigh a piece of metal

once and make a mark on it that told how
much it weighed. Then the metal would
not have to be weighed every time it was
traded. Now everyone could look at the
piece of metal and see how much it was
worth. Pieces of metal that were weighed
and marked this way were the first coins.
Resources
 Econopolis
 Hawaiian Barter
 Wampum Works
 Bartering for Goods