Financial History: Long Term Price Charts

Contents

Part I. American Markets Since Independence

Stock Prices

Interest Rates

Commodity Prices

The Gold Price

The Crude Oil Price

The U.S. Dollar

Part II. Western Markets Since the Middle Ages

Stock Prices

Interest Rates

Commodity Prices

The Gold Price

Part III. Markets Since the Beginning of Civilisation

Interest Rates

Commodity Prices

Notes on Data Sources

@Macro_Tourist

January 2014
 Part I. American Markets Since Independence

Stock Prices Global credit

bubble 12/2013
Dow Jones Industrial Average (extended), 1789 to date 16588
10/2007
14198
1/2000
Monthly high-low bars, log scale 11750
Tech boom

7400 7197
End of 9/1998 10/2002 7470
Cold War 3/2009

Reagan Global Financial

era 8/1987 Crisis
3552
2737 4/1994
Mergermania:
super-conglomerates,
1980s 2354
10/1990

1616
2/1966 1/1973 10/1987
995.1 1052
Mergermania: 1087
conglomerates 7/1984
1954-1968
776.9
8/1982
631.2
Post-War 577.6
9/1929 535.8 5/1970
boom 12/1974
381.2 6/1962
Roaring 20s 419.8
New 10/1957 Vietnam War, Oil shocks
Mergermania: Deal
mass-production 5/1946 Stagflation
1916-1929 3/1937 212.5 255.5
194.4 9/1953
Progressive Era 198.7
Mergermania:
monopolies, trusts 11/1929 Korean War
11/1919 161.6
1887-1904 1/1906 119.6 6/1949
103.0
Gilded Age
4/1899
99.0
77.3
Reconstruction 6/1881 3/1938 92.9
4/1942
61.0
7/1869
48.9 63.9 World War II
53.0 8/1921
8/1835 53.2
36.6 12/1852 11/1907 12/1914
32.9 42.2 41.2
37.1
39.2 11/1903 Stagflation 7/1932
11/1873 34.0
9/1824 1/1885
7/1893 28.7
22.5 World War I Great Depression
Era of Good 25.3 8/1896
Feelings 6/1877
19.1 Spanish-
10/1848 American War
8/1806 16.3 17.4
11.8 14.9 1/1829 6/1837
1/1820 Long Depression
12.4
U.S. companies from 1781
Bank War 10/1857 Civil War
Exchanges from 1790 9.7
1/1843 Stagflation
6.9
3/1813 Mexican War
5.6
5.0 10/1807 War of 1812 Hungry Forties
11/1797
4.3
Embargo
12/1789 Stagflation
Act

Major financial crises: 1797 1807 1819 1825 1831 1837 1848 1857 1869 1873 1877 1884 1890 1893 1903 1907 1913 1929 1938 1942 1962 1970 1974 1987 2001 2008

1770 1780 1790 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030
 Part I. American Markets Since Independence

Interest Rates
Yield on 10-year U.S. Treasuries, 1791 to date

Monthly high-low bars, linear scale

Stagflation

9/1981
15.84

5/1984
2/1980 13.95
13.65

Revolution:
Continental Congress debt
issued 1776, defaulted 1783-7
Vietnam War,
10/1987
Oil shocks
Federal refunding 1790 10.23
Restructuring of states debts
by Alexander Hamilton 10.12
5/1983

1791 9/1975
8.57 War of 1812 5/1970 8.59
8.22 11/1994
1814 8.03
7.64
Civil War
1/2000
1861 6.83
6.45 6.92
1842 World War I 6.80
6.07 12/1976 8/1986
4/1920
Federal debt 8/1966
5.67 6/2007
6.02 retired 1835, 5.51
until 1842 5.32
1802
1/1960
4.72 5.38
1/1932 3/1971 5.17
1878 Federal Reserve 4.26 10/1993
4/2010
3.97 founded 1913 4.45 4.01
4.25 3/1967 4.16
1824 4.02 1896 6/1953 10/1998 12/2013
1853 3.06 3.11 3.78
3.75 3.03
4/1962
Hungry 3.30 8/1914 12/1942
3.17 3.07
Forties 1875 2.49
3/1928 2.88 6/2003
4/1958
2.29
2.13 2.22 2.08
Long Depression 4/1954 2.04
1889 1899 1.85 4/1946 12/2008
11/1941
Great 1.38
Depression 7/2012
World War II

From 1861 to 1918: yields depressed by national Fed buying of Fed yield targeting Global Financial Crisis,
bank and then Treasury buying of bonds bonds 1932/33 sub-2.5% from 4/1942 Quantitative Easing

1770 1780 1790 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030
 Part I. American Markets Since Independence

Commodity Prices
Continuous Commodity Index (extended), 1770 to date

Monthly high-low bars, log scale 4/2011

691.1
7/2008
615.0

EM demand
500.0
6/2013
Stagflation

11/1980
337.6
Oil shock
6/1988 322.5
4/1996 12/2008
Vietnam War, 272.2
263.8
oil shock 2/1974
237.8

196.2
184.7 7/1986 182.7 182.8
8/1977 7/1999 10/2001
2/1951
Revolution: 138.3 Recession
Inflation, collapse of
Continental currency
Civil War 7/1920
111.2
1779 8/1864
102.2 100.7
War of 1812

1814 96.5 95.2

82.3 Greenbacks
World War I 12/1960 8/1968
7/1925 World War II
73.0

3/1937
60.3

1837 3/1857
52.0 6/1882
51.5 4/1910
49.7
47.9 54.4
52.0 6/1921
1808 Mexican Spanish-
War American War
46.3
1821 44.5
8/1939
40.7 43.3
38.4 1834 38.0 10/1914
1792 37.1
6/1879 35.4
California 7/1861 Gold inflows
33.9 33.9 gold from 6/1886
1775 1843 32.4
Depression 1848 2/1933
29.5
Hungry Forties 6/1897

Great Depression
Long Depression

1770 1780 1790 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030
 Part I. American Markets Since Independence

The Gold Price Global Financial Crisis,

Quantitative Easing
U.S. dollars per troy ounce, 1792 to date
9/2011
1920.7
Monthly high-low bars, log scale

Stagflation 3/2008
1033.9 1179.0
1/1980 6/2013
873.0

681.0
11/1987 10/2008
502.3
2/1996
417.5

325.8
3/1993
281.2
2/1985 252.5 255.0
2/1975 8/1999 2/2001
186.2

102.8
8/1976

Civil War

Breakdown of
Bretton Woods
1864
46.36 Breakdown of the 5/1969
gold standard 43.36
Revolution: Collapse of
Continental currency 1935
34.84

34.94 Floating: no link to gold

War of
U.S. Dollar introduced: 1/1970
1812
Coinage Act 1792
1815
22.16
Bretton Woods Bretton Woods 1944
European fx convertibility 1955-58
20.67 20.67 20.67 Bretton Woods collapse 1968-71
19.39 19.39 1861 1879 1932 Gold window closed 8/1971
1792 1834
Bimetallic Standard Greenbacks Gold Standard Great Depression

Coinage Act 1873 Gold Standard Act 1900 $ devalued 4/1933

(end of link to silver)

1770 1780 1790 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030
 Part I. American Markets Since Independence

The Crude Oil Price

U.S. dollars per barrel, 1860 to date

Monthly high-low bars, log scale

7/2008
147.27
Iraq War 5/2011
114.83
EM
demand

77.28
Gulf War I 6/2012
Iranian
Revolution 10/1990
41.15 9/2000
3/1981 37.80
34.59

32.40
12/2008

16.70
Yom Kippur War, 11/2001
Civil War
Arab oil embargo

1864 1/1975
8.06 7.61 10.35
9.75
12/1998
4/1986

World War I Six Day

Operation War
1920 Ajax
3.07
3.56
1/1948
7/1973
2.57

OPEC OAPEC
formed formed
1960 1967
World War II
1895
1.36
1937
1.18

Global oilfield discoveries peak 1965

1.05 U.S. production peak 1970
1945 Global production per capita peak 1979
Global reserves peak (production > discoveries) 1980
First oil well in Global production peak approx 2010-20
the U.S. 1859 e.g. Kuwait 2013, Saudi 2014, Iraq 2018
0.67
0.64 1933
0.56 1915
1892
0.49 Great Depression
1860
Long Depression

1770 1780 1790 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030
 Part I. American Markets Since Independence

The U.S. Dollar

U.S. Dollar Index (extended), 1792 to date

Monthly high-low bars, log scale

2/1985
164.72

Reagan/
Volcker

Plaza
Accord
1956 9/1969
123.82 7/2001
122.2
121.02

6/1976 6/1989
107.60 106.56
Vietnam War, 2/1994
oil shock 97.10
Breakdown of
Bretton Woods 3/2009
89.62
5/2013
1950 90.54 84.50
82.1 7/1973
85.33
Breakdown of the 82.07 12/1987 80.05
gold standard 81.1
War of 10/1978
1954 78.19 4/1995
1812
9/1992
Revolution: Collapse of 1932 World 72.70
Continental currency 1812 65.5 War II 70.70 5/2011
1920
63.5 3/2008
62.8
1940
60.0
U.S. Dollar introduced: Global Financial Crisis,
Coinage Act 1792 World
War I Quantitative Easing
57.0
1948
1861 1881
48.2 47.6

48.4
1794 46.6 47.2
1914 1930 45.5
44.0 1934
1816

Great Depression

Bimetallic Standard Greenbacks Gold Standard Bretton Woods Free floating exchange rates

$ linked to gold leaves 1914 $ devalued 1933 Bretton Woods 1944 Carter Dollar Rescue Plan 11/78
(end to bimetallic system): rejoins 1925 European fx convertibility 1955-58 Plaza Accord 9/1985
Coinage Act 1873 leaves 1931 Bretton Woods collapse 1968-71 Louvre Accord 2/1987
23.0
Gold Standard Act 1900 Currencies floated 5/1971
1864
Gold window closed 8/1971

Civil War

1770 1780 1790 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030
 Part II. Western Markets Since the Middle Ages

Stock Prices
Composite index: Genoa 1509-1602, Holland 1602-1693, England 1693-1789, U.S. 1789 to date 2013
16588

Yearly high-low bars, log scale

6470
2009

Global
Financial
Crisis

1965
995.1

1929
381.2 577.6
1974
Stagflation

1881
61.0
1835
36.6
South Sea 41.2
Bubble 28.7 1932
1896 Wall St Crash,
1720
1806 Great Depression
12.5 Long
11.8
Dutch Glorious Depression
Independence Revolution 12.4
1767 1857
1649 1688 9.7
4.90 5.5 1843
5.18 Civil War
Hungry
1612 4.05 Forties
2.31 1726 3.21 3.07
2.32 1761 1783
2.23
1672 1696
Stagflation Depression
Wars Vs.
Disaster Seven
Louis XIV American
0.98 year Years
Revolution
1618 War
0.63 War Vs
1509 1597 Spain
0.30

0.19
1555

Financial crisis

From 12th century: evolution of
joint-stock companies from
merchants guilds:
Partnerships in maritime trading
companies in Italy from c.1150,
Dutch East India Co. (VOC) England: East India Co. U.S. shares traded from
Bank of St George, bankers to Spanish
shares traded from 1602; shares traded from 1688; 1781, listed on New York
Crown, founded 1407, shares traded in
establishment of Amsterdam establishment of London Stock Exchange from 1790
Genoa from 1509: perpetual annuities
issued by Republic of Genoa, paying Stock Exchange Stock Exchange
dividends varying with profits of the bank

1050 1100 1150 1200 1250 1300 1350 1400 1450 1500 1550 1600 1650 1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 2050
 Part II. Western Markets Since the Middle Ages

Interest Rates
Yields on long-term sovereign debt: Venice 1285-1509, Holland 1550-1693, England 1694-1797, U.S. 1798 to date

Yearly high-low bars, linear scale

Italian cities Venice

c.1150 1440
20.00 (?) 20.00

Defeat to
Turks

Venice
10th & 11th centuries:
1467
Rise of Italian city-states;
17.39 Stagflation
Venetian independence
from Constantinople;
control of Mediterranean U.S.
trade by Venice, Genoa, 1981
Pisa, Florence 15.84
Series of wars with Turks:
decline of Venetian power
War of Chioggia
From 12th century: with Genoa
War of the League
evolution of bond markets of Cambrai
Venice
from census:
1385
13.16 Venice
Census (perpetual annuity) Refunding of English
1509
issues by cities in Italy and debt by Bank of
12.50
the Netherlands England 1694

Forced loans issued: Wars against

Genoa 1152, Venice 1171 Louis XIV
Dutch
Republic: Dutch War of Independence England
War with perpetual (Eighty Years War) 1701
Genoa, c.1200, limit on Genoa annuities 9.92
commercial lending rate: 20%
Refunding of
War of
Venice Holland U.S. federal
Florence: rate on public debt Disaster year: 1812
1299 1572 debt: 1790
declined from 15% to 10% in invasion by
8.38 8.13 U.S.
13th century France/England
Venice 1814 Civil War
Holland 7.64
1356
1672
7.13 American U.S. World War I
Tradable bond issued: 7%+
Revolution 1861
Venice prestiti in 1264: 6.45 U.S.
Monte Vecchio Seven England 1920
6.63 Years War 1784 5.67
1285 6.25 6.17 5.32
Venice 5.97 1495 1570 England
1423 Venice Holland 1761
Venice 4.51
Fibonaccis Liber Abaci, 1202, introduced
4.88
Hindu-Arabic numeric system and arithmetic
1344
(e.g. .fractions) to western Europe, enabling 4.25
Venice
calculations of profit and interest New issue of 1824
prestiti in 1492: U.S.
1340s: financial crisis: default Monte Nuovo 3.31
3.00 1791
by Edward III, collapse of 1679 2.81
Florentine banks (Bardi, England
Holland 1737
Peruzzi), rise of Venice as England 2.13
financial power 16th century: series of defaults by Dutch state bonds 1889 1.85
Spanish (Hapsburg) and French traded on Amsterdam South Sea Bubble: U.S. 1941 1.38
First recorded traded bond yield, in 1285 = 6.63% (Bourbon) crowns: e.g. Philip II , U.S.
exchange from 1672 gilt/equity swap Great 2012
1557, 1560, 1575, 1596 U.S.
Depression
Average yield since 1285 = 6.50%
World War II Global
Financial
Crisis

1050 1100 1150 1200 1250 1300 1350 1400 1450 1500 1550 1600 1650 1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 2050
 Part II. Western Markets Since the Middle Ages

Commodity Prices
Composite index: England 1165-1792, U.S. 1792 to date 2011
691.1
Yearly high-low bars, log scale

1980
337.6

WWI 1951 182.7

American 138.3 1999
Civil War
1920
Napoleonic 1864 111.2
Wars 100.7
General Crisis of the 17th Century 1814
82.3
Thirty Years War in Europe 95.2
1968
English Seven American End of Bretton
Civil War Wars Vs Years Revoln Woods: break
Louis X!V War with gold
1649 1772
War Vs 1693
43.9 1756 42.6
Philip II 40.4 32.0
1596
Henry VIII Great 32.6
Debasement 37.1
1786 33.9
1843 32.4
Crisis of the Late Middle Ages: Wars of Religion 29.5
29.7 French 1933
collapse of Medieval economy 28.0 1897
1730 Revolution Hungry
1555 1666 Great
23.9 Forties
18.1 Long Depression
1627 Depression
Crop failures: Gold from Brazil, Depression
Great Famine Depression expansion in copper
1314-16 coin and paper credit Shift to paper money
Hundred Years War Decline in silver inflows backed by gold
1316 Wars of the from Americas, outflows
10.6 1369 1438 Roses 1527 to Asia and Baltic
12.7
9.3 Peasants 9.9 9.9 1557
Black 1482
Crop failures Revolt 8.7 Flood of silver from
Death
1202-05 Peru and Mexico

1205 1274
Barons 6.0
6.0 Silver & gold from the
Revolt
New World to Europe
6.2 6.1
5.8 1462 1509
1394
4.8 Silver mining boom in
4.5 1338 central Europe, gold
4.3 Silver mining crises,
1287 from West Africa
1235 gold outflows to the
Collapse of wool trade,
East
Edward III default,
banking collapse,
Silver famine: drain HY War start
Norman conquest Gold from
of England; First Crusades of specie via Venice
Crusade to Middle East

Silver famine 1.7

until c.1125 1165

Silver mining boom in Europe,

e.g. in England under Henry II.
Increase in volume of trade:
chartered fairs etc.

1050 1100 1150 1200 1250 1300 1350 1400 1450 1500 1550 1600 1650 1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 2050
 Part II. Western Markets Since the Middle Ages

The Gold Price

Sterling price converted to Dollars 1257-1791, Dollar price 1792 to date
2011
Yearly high-low bars, log scale 1921
Global Financial Crisis,
Quantitative Easing

1980
873

Stagflation

253
1999

U.S. Civil War

(Greenbacks)
1860s

1864 Bretton Woods

46.4 collapse 1971
English Gold
Wars against sovereign 1817
Louis XIV
Napoleonic
New gold William III Wars 34.9
coinage 1663 devaluation 1970
1815
1696 22.2
Henry VIII Charles II 20.4
Great Debasement, James I devaluation
1/3 silver, 2/3 copper devaluation
20.7 20.6
de facto default 19.4
18.6 1861 1932
17.1 1813
1688
Edward VI 1660
Edward IV devaluation 14.0 $ Gold Bretton Free
devaluation Gold $ Bimetallic
1603 Standard Woods floating
Standard Standard
Edward III Henry IV 10.5
default and devaluation 9.2 1543
devaluation 1525
Henry III
13th century: re-introduction 6.8 Official gold standard:
devaluation = fixed weight of gold, 1696,
of gold coinage to Europe 6.2 1463 Britain 1816, U.S. 1873, ended 1931
Gold as legal tender alongside silver 1717,
form the East (Crusades, 1408 restriction of silver use, effective gold standard 1774 Pound = 4.85 U.S. Dollars
Venetian trade with Arabs) 4.9
1342
English Gold penny 1257 4.1 Paper banknotes from 1633
1263 Bank of England founded 1694: issuer of paper money
International currency:
Florence florin 1252
Venice ducat 1284

1050 1100 1150 1200 1250 1300 1350 1400 1450 1500 1550 1600 1650 1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 2050
 Part III. Markets Since the Beginning of Civilisation

Interest Rates
Lending rates in Mesopotamia 3000 BC-600 BC, in Greece and Rome 600 BC-300 AD; Yields on Western government bonds 1150 to date

Decennial high-low bars, linear scale

From c. 3000 BC: use of metals as money by

weight in Mesopotamia. Temples as proto-banks:
repositories of wealth and lending at interest

Ancient Sumer:
Custom of 1 shekel per mina per month = 20%
Rates of 25% also documented Commercial Revolution of the Middle Ages:
(see also India c.2400 BC: Laws of Manu, 24% rate) easing of prohibitions on usury, rise of
banking and state finance in Italy and the
Netherlands; evolution of bond markets from
Ur: financial centre of Sumer until
census annuities
crash of 1788 BC caused by
cancellation of debts under Rim-Sin Italian cities Venice
c.1150 1430s
Babylon: Code of Hammurabi, 1772 BC, Dark Ages in the West: 20% (?) 20.00
Codified earlier Sumerian custom of 20%. Anti-usury laws,
Average rates of 10-25% recorded Adoption of Near e.g. Capitularies of
through Old Babylonian, Assyrian and Eastern financial Charlemagne 814 AD
Neo-Babylonian iterations, until Persian practices by Greek
conquest 539 BC, then rates of 40+% city states
5th century Greece: 3rd/4th century Rome:
spread of coined money and inflation, fiscal crisis
Athens U.S.
credit; freeing of hoarded 1980s
600 BC capital for productive loans Rome
Origins of interest rates: 15.84
16% (after Persian Wars, silver 300 AD
Natural multiplying of borrowed livestock via reproduction: Debt crisis in Archaic Greece: discoveries at Laurion) 15+% (?)
hence words for interest in ancient languages: Sumerian usurious loans, payment in
mash = calf, Greek tokos = calf, Latin pecus = flock, kind, debt servitude; until Sulla 88 BC
Egyptian ms = give birth. Solons reforms, 594 BC Limit 100th /mth = 12%

Uruk, city of sheepfolds, pastoral agricultural economy; State bankruptcy Credit

had a numerical and writing system for quantifying and during Social War crisis
Eastern (Byzantine) Empire:
recording contracts, and the Mesopotamian calendar 90 BC and civil 33 AD
Constantine, 325 AD, limit 12.5%;
system for recording time in lunar months and solar years. wars 49-31 BC Code of Justinian 528 AD, limit 8%;
373 BC: Defaults 850 AD limit raised to 11.5%
Early rates of interest determined by the standard units of by Greek states England
quantity and time, e.g. 1 shekel per mina per month = on loans at Delos 1700s
20% p.a. in Babylon (Code of Hammurabi), 1 ounce per 9.92
pound per year = 8.33 % p.a. in Rome (Twelve Tables). Greece: Temple at Delos Holland
From c.500 BC, 10% 1570s
U.S.
8.13
Rome: Twelve Tables 443 BC 1810s
Limit 1 oz/lb/year = 8.33% 7.64
8%
300-200 BC
Athens/Rome

Rome 6.25
Roman expansion:
100 AD 1490s
inflows of silver &
5% Venice
gold, falling rates
4.88
1340s
4% Venice
1 AD
Rome 3.00
1670s 2.81
Expansion of coinage under Holland 1730s
Julius Caesar and Augustus. England 1.85
Reduction under Tiberius: 1940s 1.38
credit crisis in 33 AD U.S. 2010s
U.S.

-3000 -2800 -2600 -2400 -2200 -2000 -1800 -1600 -1400 -1200 -1000 -800 -600 -400 -200 1 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200
 Part III. Markets Since the Beginning of Civilisation

Commodity Prices
Composite indices: Babylon 1840 BC-1620 BC, Greece 500 BC-250 BC, Rome 250 BC-300 AD, Iberia 920-1040, England 1170-1790, U.S. 1790 to date 2010s

Decennial high-low bars, log scale

World
Wars
Napoleonic
wars
1810s
General crisis of
the 17th century
De-linking
1640s of currency
and gold

1930s
Crisis of the Late 1720s
Middle Ages
Industrial Revolution:
Acceleration of inflation after Diocletian's 1310s Fossil Fuel Age
Prices Edict of 301 and Constantines
recoinage 324, until Julians reforms, 360.
Rapid expansion of copper coinage for military 1200s
pay and treasury buying of gold; but price
Viking/Norman 1500s
deflation vs gold solidus. Copper/silver
invasions 1330s
currency abandoned after Theodosius, 395. Silver & gold
New silver coinages under Gothic successors, from New World
e.g. Odoacer 480; reformed by Justinian, 550s 1020s
Age of Discovery:
European expansion
Crises of the 3rd & 4th 1160s
centuries: wars Vs.
Persians, Goths Silver mining
boom, crusades
Environmental decline 300 AD Migration period:
of grain-producing Roman collapse of western
Roman empire Commercial Revolution
colonies in North Africa 930s
of the Middle Ages
Expansion
Roman tri-metallic system: bronze currency Dark Ages
of coinage
from 3rd century BC, silver from 2nd Punic
War, gold introduced by Caesar. Reductions
in silver content of denarius: to 90% by Nero, Frankish and Saxon gold coinage
85% by Trajan, 75% by Marcus Aurelius, from c.550; evolved into silver
50% by Severus, 5% by Aurelian, 0.02% at currency via debasement by c.680.
end of 3rd century, i.e. silver-plated copper New silver currencies under
coin. Acceleration of inflation after Aurelius Charlemagne 768 and Offa 785.
and again after Aurelian 220 AD Growth of trade and markets

Civil wars

2nd Punic 30 BC 100 AD

Peak Bronze: shortage Alexanders War 260 AD
Environmental decline of of tin from c.1200 BC wars 210 BC
Tigris-Euphrates lowlands Approx seven-fold
from c.2200 BC 320 BC 160 AD increase in silver
Crises of 1750-1550 BC: Crises of 1200-1000 BC:
Gold coinage from 240 to
fall of Babylonian empire, Bronze Age Collapse of
from 270; then recoinage
Crises of 2200-2000 BC: Egypt Middle Kingdom, Mycenae, Hittite empire
Dacia under Aurelian
collapse of Sumer (fall of Harappa, Minoans and Egypt New Kingdom Pelopn 60 AD
Akkadian empire then Ur III)
International Age: Dark Ages Persian war Silver Reduction in
and Egypt Old Kingdom 1720 BC wars
height of Bronze from coinage under
Rise of Iron Age cultures Gold, Silver
Age civilisations Gaul Tiberius, expansion
Fourth millennium BC: 1840 BC in Near East and Aegean; 500 BC Silver from
from Nero onward
Hispania
emergence of Bronze Age Phoenician and Greek Spread of from
civilisations in Mesopotamia, Babylon: Code of colonisation movements coinage Persia
Roman expansion
Egypt and India Hammurabi 1772 BC:
standardised weights and Coined money in Lydia c.685 BC; in
1620 BC
terms of transactions Greece c.625 BC; Athenian drachma
From c. 3000 BC: use of metals as
(preceded by crash of 1740 BC devalued by 33% under Solons reforms
money by weight in Mesopotamia:
1788; followed by crisis/ 594 BC (exit from Aegina standard).
copper, bronze and silver ingots;
civil war from 1750) Spread of money after Persian Wars
units of grains, livestock traded in
and silver discovery at Laurion, 482 BC
units of money (shekel, mina)

-3000 -2800 -2600 -2400 -2200 -2000 -1800 -1600 -1400 -1200 -1000 -800 -600 -400 -200 1 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200