Not to sound harsh, but are there any historical sources or references for this essay?
It's likely another just-so story about gold and the emergence of money from the barter economy.
It's likely another just-so story about gold and the emergence of money from the barter economy.
"Rich people" with lots of stuff in the history we know about were rich because of force and threat, not trade.
Edited to add: that doesn't mean trade didn't happen, just that people mostly weren't "rich" off of it.