History Of Gold

Gold has dazzled kings and queens since before the beginning of recorded human history. Something about this precious metal has captured the imagination of almost every civilization in the world. Occurring naturally virtually everywhere on Earth, there are many conflicting accounts of who first gave the little gold nuggets they found in rivers and creeks such great value. There is absolutely no hard archeological evidence to help us pinpoint man's first encounter with gold, but many cite the pharaohs and temple priests of Ancient Egypt circa 3000 B.C with the first ornamental use of gold. However, expert archeologists have found traces of gold in Spanish caves used by Paleolithic men dating way back to 40,000 B.C! What we do know is that the Kingdom of Lydia-in what is now western Turkey-first used gold as money around 700 B.C in the form of coins.

Soon gold as a currency ran rampant around the ancient world including the powerful civilizations of Greece and Rome. Kings from Greece's Alexander of Macedon (Alexander the Great) to the emperors of the Roman Empire expanded their gold mining operations through slave labor and filled their coffers with gold through conquest and war. Historians point to the beauty, unique properties, and scarcity of gold to explain the high value humans have always placed on gold. After all, gold was the first metal that we encountered on Earth, even before copper and iron, metals often credited with the development of human civilizations. Gold is durable, never tarnishing. It is portable, private, and permanent. In addition, gold is extremely malleable, easily hammered into a variety of shapes, and flattened into very thin layers. Early discoverers of gold linked the brilliance of the metal to kings and gods, associating it with immortality and power.

Gold has moved armies, and irrevocably changed our world. Although it was the hope of a direct trading route with India that first led Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand to send Columbus on his fateful journey to the New World, it was whispers of gold, silver, and fabulous riches that spurred the conquest of the Americas. For better or for worse, it is the gold of the Aztecs that got England, Spain, Portugal and other European powers to send fleets of ships to pillage and to conquer in the early 15th century and late 16th century. As Europe was flooded with gold and silver from these wars, it brought about what historians call The Price Revolution. The more gold there was, the less it was worth. They unearthed so much gold that over 95% of the gold in circulation today was mined since 1500. As a result, land ceased to be the basis of wealth and land-owners stopped being the dominant class by default. The Price Revolution led to the modern businessman and self-made man.

Since the founding of the United States, the U.S Congress has passed measures connecting the U.S Dollar to gold and silver. By 1792 the U.S had adopted a bimetallic standard (gold and silver) to back up the nation's currency and make it the most reliable in the world. Gold was valued at $19.30 per troy ounce. In 1834, the price was raised to $20.87 and then again in 1934 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt raised it to $35.00 to try and boost commodity prices during the Great Depression. In the 70's the U.S and a council of other powerful industrial nations set the price at $37 and later $42.22 per ounce. Finally in 1973 it was determined that the U.S should be freed from the gold standard, and all international currencies were allowed to float independent of gold prices.

These developments led to an out of control spike upwards-culminating in a price of $850 an ounce. Of course this was too far, and it caused a 13 year downturn in gold. Since 1993 however, gold has recovered and its value continues to rise today.