Barter System

Trade has become an integral part of human lives since the moment people started to communicate in prehistoric times. The main reason that trade began to evolve is that every member of the society could not produce all the products by her- or himself in order to satisfy all his or her needs. The earliest form of trade was represented by the barter system. Barter is a method of exchange of goods and services without the involvement of a third party and money. It facilitated the exchange since currency did not exist at that time. For example, a hunter could exchange deer for fish from a fisherman. At the earliest stage of trade, people used to barter goods that were essential for life such as weapons and foods. Time passed and the choice of products to be traded started to expend. Tea, spices and salt became popular products of exchange. Primarily goods were exchanged just locally. As soon as people started to use animals for transportation, the area of trade widened significantly and gave more opportunities to find desired products and make better deals.
The evolution of trade influenced the development of culture and science significantly. It gave people an opportunity to enrich their knowledge, and contributed to the formulation of beliefs and values. Trade added up to the development of the Numerical System that was used for measuring volumes.
The barter system had a few large problems. There were no fixed criteria that helped determine the value of products. This caused a lot of heated debates and disputes. The second issue stemmed from the difficulty to meet people that needed a particular product that could have been exchanged for another one. Thus, the trade system needed some innovation that could help to solve these issues.