BobRingReflections

The musical, Cabaret, includes the song, “Money makes the world go round,” illustrating the importance of money in our lives.  Everybody has some money.  Most of us wish we had more.  But what do we know about money, how it came to be, and the different forms it comes in?  I realized that I didn’t know much about this subject.  So, this blog post is about the history of money.   After a short introduction, I’ll talk about bartering, the early evolution of currency, banks, the value of money, modern financial transactions, and finish with some conclusions. My principal sources include “The History of Money,” mint.intuit.com; “The History of Money - From Bartering to Bitcoin,” “How Currency Works,” and “The Evolution of Banking Over Time,” investopedia.com; “History of Money,” Wikipedia; “History of Money,” historyworld.net; “Standards of Value,” britannica.com; “The History of Money,” thoughtco.com; “A Brief History of Money,” historyofyesterday.com; “...

Pat and I will be automobile touring in New Mexico this summer, and as usual, I wanted to study up on the history or the area we will be visiting.  In previous blogs, I have written about the history of Albuquerque, New Mexico (June 15, 2019) and the expansion of the Spanish Empire from Mexico into New Mexico (August 3, 2020).  This blog will focus on the history of north central New Mexico. After short introductions to New Mexico and north central New Mexico, I will focus on the history of the towns of Santa Fe, Taos, and Las Vegas.     My principal sources include “Northern New Mexico History,” riograndeha.org; “New Mexico,” newworldenyclopedia.org; “History: New Mexico’s Geography,” online.nmartmuseum.org; “Santa Fe, New Mexico,” newworldencyclopedia.org; “Santa Fe History,” santafe.org; “Sangre de Cristo Mountains,” “Santa Fe, New Mexico,” “Taos, New Mexico,” and “Las Vegas, New Mexico,” Wikipedia; “Taos, New Mexico - Art, Architecture & History,” legen...