In this resource, we will explore the questions: What is money? And what does it tell us about the world?

By looking at the history of money around the world, we will discover the different shapes and forms money can take, and think about how the history of money can help us understand the past and the present. This exercise ends with an exciting activity that gives students the opportunity to apply what they have learned by creating their own money.

*This lesson was developed by a South African History graduate (Amy Rommelspacher, amyrom@sun.ac.za), as part of a collaboration between Stellenbosch University, the London School of Economics and the Smithsonian with a goal of creating lesson plans for South African students using objects from the National Numismatic Collection. There are four lessons in total.

Find the next lessons here:

South African lesson 2: Minerals and money

South African lesson 3: The Great Depression, the gold standard and South Africa

South African lesson 4: Bretton Woods, national currencies and South Africa's new money