Following up on Ancient Egypt Trade: The Nile River to the Sahara Desert, this week we’ll discuss Egyptian paper, starting with papyrus… the first writing material to assume many of the properties of what we now know as paper.

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Over the course of thousands of years, different writing mediums appeared in distinct regions and eras of the world. The word papyrus refers both to the writing material invented by the ancient Egyptians, and the plant from which it was made.

Needing shallow fresh water or water-saturated earth to grow, dense papyrus thickets were found in the marshes of the Nile Delta and in the low-lying areas fringing the Nile valley.

Papyrus was used in Egypt for over 3000 years even as paper became the most popular writing material for the Arab world around the eighth century A.D.

The papyrus scroll remained the standard until the rise of parchment in the second century AD. Vellum is a type of parchment, made only from thin calf skin.

Early trade was accounted for through bartering. Coins were introduced around 500 BC. Prior to, transactions were settled in debens, metals such as gold which were given values based on their weight.

Egypt's banking institutions issued paper money in 1899 to replace the piaster. In contrast, merchants in late Tang times started trading receipts from deposit shops where they had left money or goods. This was done to replace coins which had become too cumbersome to carry long distances.

The Egyptian pound (EGP) is mainly a paper currency and the official currency of Egypt.

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