Money III And The History Of Yap | 079

You may be wondering what in the world does a remote island of Yap have to do with a home based business and money. I think you will find this article quite interesting. Can you imagine a typhoon and the relocation of these giant stones, it does happen and the confusion it must cause. The truth is that after a typhoon, business is carried on as usual. After the typhoon that is currently going on in Washington DC is over, do you suppose it will be trading as usual?

The island of Yap is located in the Southwestern corner of Micronesia. It lies between Palau (360 miles) and Guam (550 miles), approximately 600 miles East of the Philippines. One side of Yap is bordered by the Pacific Ocean while the other side borders the Philippine Sea.

Yap actually consists of 4 major islands linked by road. The cluster is shaped like a kite and is 17 miles long by 6 miles wide, at the widest point. The land mass is 39 square miles, ringed by mangrove shoreline, protected lagoons, secluded beaches and a coral barrier reef.

The following is quoted from a tour guide:

Yap is known for the stone disks used as money by the Micronesian natives.

It may surprise you but stone discs, and some weigh as much as 5 tons, are still used as currency on Yap. Tourists who visit the island are often astonished that the people of Yap just leave their money lying in the streets. And it is not small change we are speaking of. The largest stones can be 4 meters in diameter and weigh about 15 tons. Where lies the origin of this special kind of money?

A few ages ago some Yapese men sailed from Yap to the neighboring island of Palau, about 400 kilometers away from Yap. There they discovered a special rock: aragonite. Since aragonite was not found on Yap, the Yapese cut out massive pieces of it in the caves on Palau. Next, these stones were hewn into discs and a hole was carved in the centre in order to facilitate the journey by land. After a while the Yapese decided to use these discs as a means of payment and the stones got the name rai.

The boat trip from Palau to Yap was in fact not without risks. Many Yapese men got hurt or even drowned during the voyage and this had an important influence on the value of the stones that were transported. Tradition has it that the more risks and as a consequence the more victims during a journey, the higher the value a stone obtained. So, the hardships suffered during the conveyance by sea together with the rarity of the material (aragonite) made the discs very valuable for the people of Yap.

Maybe you ask yourself now how the value of a stone was determined more concretely? Apart from the beauty of its material and the history of the stone itself (i.e. age, number of victims, degree of complexity of cutting out the stone) the size of the stone is important to assess the value, together with the social status of the parties in the transaction. Stone money that has circulated among the wealthy for example is esteemed more highly than the stones of common people.

After 1931 no new stones have been made. Because of their abnormal size and weight the stones were very impractical means of payments; therefore the American dollar has been introduced in the 20th century on Yap to make small, daily payments. However, large purchases like houses and land are still paid with rai. In addition the aragonite stones are also used today to pay damages.

Very remarkable is the way in which in the past (and still today for large purchases) transactions were effected on Yap. When a stone passed from one owner to the other, it was most of the time not moved. The stones thus remained on their original place on the island: this could be by men’s houses, outside homes, in the streets.

When people leave their money lying in the streets, one would expect this money to be stolen frequently. In fact, this rarely happens. First of all, the islanders are well informed of the owners of the stones and the stone money is thus under constant supervision of (almost) everyone on the island. Moreover, could you possibly think of a way to steal a stone of 5 tons without anyone noticing? (End Quote)

Source: Lautz, Th., Steinreich in der Südsee. Traditionelle Zahlungsmittel in Mikronesien, Köln, 1999

I think a little knowledge like this can help to get a perspective today in regard to what’s going on in the US Congress. After the dust settles and the blue smoke clears hopefully there will be some good come of it. It would do one well to study the history of our money system and how corrupt it has become since 1913 at the inception of the Federal Reserve Act. If you have the time you can take a short study at this link. Click here .http://www.afn.org/%7Egovern/pa10005.html Young people will be in for a surprise because this is not taught in schools or economic classes of our institutions. They are still trying to keep it a secret that the Federal Reserve is really not Federal. It is an incorporated private business owned by the fat cat crooks and has never been audeted. (I wonder why?) Someone someday may remember this and go back to our honest money system as outlined in our constitution. The constitution contains the rules and regulations that our government officials do their very best not to obey. We need to hold their feet to the fire.

In the mean time it’s business as usual and you will be better equipped to handle and manage your own home based business. The links at the end of this article are your gateway to a successful home business of your very own. Just click on those links.

Brad Vigansky
Skype: bradley:vigansky
Phone: 941-343-3184
http://www.TomorrowsHomeBusiness.com
http://www.contactus.tomorrowshomebusiness.com