Cacao Beans
The ancient Aztecs and Mayans prized cacao so highly that the beans became currency. You could buy a turkey for 100 beans or a tamale for 3. Cacao was valuable not just as a tasty treat but as a sacred substance believed to be a gift from the gods.
Fake cacao beans even circulated in markets, showing how sophisticated these economies were. When the Spanish arrived, they adopted the system briefly before transitioning to coinage. Today we crave chocolate bars, but centuries ago, it was the raw bean that carried all the financial weight.
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