The first introduction of paper Banknotes occurred in our region in the last years of the 1800s. It was fiercely fought by the populace who were forced to hand in their gold عثملي coins in exchange for paper.
Before that the world has traded in various piasters of gold coins from 25p to 500 Kurush which remained the score of wealth for over 500 years.
The global economy reaching up to the the beginning of the 1900s could not keep up and most nations looked at bankruptcy as reality. The Offoman empire itself heavily laden with debt decided to exchange its gold hoard and impose the reforms starting with gold.
The paper geld which was part of the إصلاحات pumped cash in various forms and forced the people to exchange the gold and silver with paper. Our region fought it and many simply started hiding their wealth.
Things went down the drain when the ottomans started to lose grip and most people opted to seek a safer heaven which was found in Egyptian Kingdom paper money; better known as المصريات
Years after the adoption and chaos left people using a mix of hidden gold, Egyptian notes and Ottoman paper. Once the French entered the region they quickly issued a decree outlawing the use of anything except the newly printed Bank of Syria and Lebanon paper notes.
The region again had to exchange their wealth and a black market began when Cart traders would collect your ottoman notes, hand you the new papers at a discount of 40%. The ferry the old notes to Istanbul to convert back...
We have seen this happen often and always to the loss of the helpless populace who work and toil only to lose the savings every now and then. Nobody could do anything in 1919, nobody can do anything now ...
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