Man used gold to make jewellery since the Stone Age, and one of the earliest places that gold was found was in Ethiopia.

The history of gold is a colorful one that spans many continents and empires around the world.

The Egyptians, Nubians and Ethiopians used to trade in gold and gold jewellery and later in West Africa people used to trade gold for salt from the Sahara Desert.

Spain was another place that had many gold mines, and during the time of the many wars, Spain was conquered especially because it was rich in silver and gold.

“Au” is the chemical symbol of the element of gold, and its atomic number is 79.

Gold does not chemically react as other metals, and conducts electricity and heat really well.

Pure unrefined gold is yellowy and shiny and is quite soft. It can easily be moulded to make different things, even beaten into thin sheets.

Gold is also one of the Earth’s heaviest metals. It is so heavy that it weighs 19.3 times more than water.

Gold is one of man’s most favourite metals to make jewellery because it does not corrode, rust, oxidize or are destroyed. Because of these, gold is considered very valuable.

With all the changes in the world’s economy, the price of gold constantly changes.

The “gold standard” is a type of monetary system that fixes a unit of money (‘x’ amount of dollars, or pounds) to a certain weight of gold.

Therefore, the price of gold depends on the amount of money fixed to particular weight of gold.

The word “gold” comes from the Old English word “Gelo” which means yellow, referring to the yellowy shininess of unrefined gold.

Gold has also been used for medical reasons, where patients suffering from tuberculosis (a contagious cough), and arthritis (stiffening and pain of the limbs, especially in older people) have gold injected into them.

Because gold is considered so valuable, it is used to indicate the ‘best of the best’. Academy Awards winners, different medals (like in the Olympic Games), and the Nobel Prize winners receive gold for their great achievements.