Left: Gold
Right: Pyrite know as fool's gold
Photo Source: USGS

It seems that for some unknown reason, the human race decided that a yellow metal that was dug out of the ground or found in river beds was to become one of the most precious commodities on earth. Maybe it was the fact that it was hard to find, or maybe it was because it was shiny and beautiful that made it desirable, who knows? Gold became so desired that it was responsible for many deaths by greedy people that would do anything to possess it. It must have been quite an experience when early man first discovered gold. You can almost imagine what it must have been like. Just try and picture a man deciding to go down to the river to wash the dirt and dust off of his body. He goes to the shoreline and bends down, cupping his hands to get some water and at that exact moment he sees something shinning on the shallow river bed. Struck with curiosity he steps into the river and picks out a shinny yellow stone. Immediately he is fascinated by its beauty. He brings it back to his tribe where everyone wants to see it. He is very proud of his possession and ties it on to a thin piece of leather or a thin, cord like, vine and wears it around his neck. Every one else in the tribe envies him and they want one of these rocks to wear. Some might have even gone back to the river looking for them and a few might have found them. Thus may have began the quest for gold. Many people believe that the story I have just recited is wrong and when gold was discovered it was used as a tool, but I don't agree with this and I base my opinion on human nature.

The first known use of gold dates back to at least 4000 BC. and can be traced to Central and Eastern Europe, but it was the Egyptians in 3000 BC who learned how to really work gold. The discovered the secret of beating gold into thin sheets that could be used to cover other metals and woods. They also achieved a better product by discovering how to make gold alloy by adding other metals to increase hardness and change color. The Egyptians were not alone at this time, as the peoples of, what is today, southern Iraq also learned this art. In 1500 BC huge deposits of gold were found in Nubia and gold becomes the standard medium of exchange for trade. In 1350 BC The Babylonians figured out how to assay gold to test its pureness. In 560 BC the first gold coin was minted in Lydia. In 1100 AD Venice becomes the world's leading gold bullion market. In 1717 AD Isaac Newton, head of the London Mint, set the price of gold and amazingly this price stood for over 200 years. In 1968 a new use in computers was found for gold, it was used in the connections between transistors on computer chips.

In the US the discovery of gold in different areas influenced many things, among them was the fate of certain indian tribes. The Sioux were given the Black Hills of North Dakota by treaty with the US Government and they considered them sacred ground. One day gold was discovered in the hills and a flood of white men came there. The government officials looked the other way much of the time and the indians rights, along with the treaty, were violated. The railroad came in and even more white people came to the area. Finally after the battle of the Little Bighorn, even though the army lost, the indians were forced to give up the Black Hills and lost much of their territory. Thus gold had helped shape the history of this country.

In 1519 Hernan Cortez made contact with the Aztec people. They had thought that he was a god. He had about 500 hundred men with him and also somewhere between 10 and 20 horses. He noticed that the natives were wearing gold trinkets and that their king Moctezuma was eating off of gold plates and drinking out of gold goblets. Cortez burned the ships he arrived on so that his men couldn't leave. Moctezuma gave Cortez gifts of gold and jewels in hopes that he would leave. When Cortez saw these lavish gifts he seized Moctezuma as a hostage and eventually killed him. The greed for gold by the Spaniards had cost the Emperor his life and his people their empire.

In World War II the Nazis were hungry for gold. Every country they conquered, they looted building up huge stores of gold. One country that really vexed them was little Norway. The Germans tried everything to locate the gold reserves from the Bank of Norway. They never got the Norwegian gold however, which had been smuggled out by truck, train and ship. Who knows if this gold could have been used to prolong the war in some way?

Gold has been coveted by people and nations, as we can see, from the few examples above. It is no longer thought of as a mineral but as riches. Even in religion we talk about the 'Golden Rule' one of the most important principles. Then there are those that say the golden rule is that 'Who ever has the gold makes the rules'. A beautiful sunset is some times called a golden sunset. So you can see that gold is such an important commodity that it has even invaded our language. ....a golden halo surrounded her head. Gold also denotes beauty so the word has evolved to mean more than just metal. There is no doubt that gold has had quite an influence on the evolution of world society.