| 4000
BC |
Gold
is first known to be used in parts of Central and Eastern
Europe. |
| 3000 |
The
Egyptians master the arts of beating gold into leaf
and alloying gold with other metals to achieve variations
in hardness and color. They also develop the ability
to cast gold, using the lost-wax technique still used
in today's jewelry industry.
The Sumer civilization of southern Iraq uses gold to
creat a wide range of jewelry, often using sophisticated
and varied styles still worn today. |
| 2500 |
Gold
jewelry is buried in the Tomb of Djer, the king of the
First Egyptian Dyanisty, at Abydos, Egypt. |
| 1500 |
The
immense, gold-bearing regions of Nubia make Egypt a
wealthy nation, as gold becomes the recognized standard
medium of exchange for international trade.
The Shekel, a coin originally weighing 11.3 grams of
gold, is used as a standard unit of measure throughout
the Middle East. The coin contained a naturally occurring
alloy called electrum, which was approximately two-thirds
gold and one-third silver. |
| 1352 |
The
young Egyptian King Tutankhamun is interred in a pyramid
tomb laden with gold, his remains laid in an extravagant
gold anthropoid sarcophagus. |
| 1350 |
The
Babylonians begin to use fire assay to test the purity
of gold. |
| 1091 |
Squares
of gold are legalized in China as a form of money. |
| 560 |
The
first coins made purely from gold are minted in Lydia,
a kingdom of Asia Minor. |
| 58 |
Julius
Caesar seizes enough gold in Gaul (France) to repay
Rome's debts. |
| 50 |
The
Romans issue a gold coin called the Aureus. |
| 600-699
AD |
The
Byzantine Empire resumes gold mining in central Europe
and France, an area undeveloped since the fall of the
Roman Empire. Artisans of the period produce intricate
gold artifacts and icons. |
| 1100 |
Venice
secures its position as the world's leading gold bullion
market due to its location astride the trade routes
to the east. |
| 1284 |
Venice
introduces the gold Ducat, which soon becomes the most
popular coin in the world, and remains so for more than
five centuries.
Great Britain issues its first major gold coin, the
Florin, which is followed by the Noble, the Angel, the
Crown, and the Guinea. |
| 1511 |
King
Ferdinand of Spain sends explorers to the Western Hemisphere
with the command to "get gold." |
| 1717 |
Isaac
Newton, Master of the London Mint, sets price of gold
that lasts for 200 years. |
| 1787 |
First
US gold coin is struck by Ephraim Brasher, a goldsmith. |
| 1792 |
The
Coinage Act places the young United Sates on a bimetallic
silver/gold standard, defining the U.S. Dollar as equivalent
to 24.75 grains of fine gold, and 371.25 grains of fine
silver. |
| 1803 |
North
Carolina site of first US gold rush. The state supplies
all the domestic gold coined for currency by the US
Mint in Philadelphia until 1828. |
| 1848 |
The
California gold rush begins when James Marshall finds
specks of gold in the water at John Sutter's sawmill
near the junction of the American and Sacramento Rivers. |
| 1850 |
Edward
Hammong Hargraves, returning from California, predicts
he will find gold in Australia within one week. He discovers
gold in New South Wales within one week of landing. |
| 1859 |
The
Comstock Lode of gold and silver is discovered in Nevada.
As a result, Nevada is made a state five years later. |
| 1886 |
George
Harrison, while digging stones to build a house, discovers
gold in South Africa. |
| 1887 |
Glasgow
doctors, Robert and William Forrest, and chemist John
S. MacArthur patent the process for extracting gold
from ore using cyanide. |
| 1896 |
Two
prospectors discover gold while fishing in the Klondike
River in northern Canada, richer finds were rumored
farther south in Alaska's Yukon, spawning the Alaska
Gold Rush in 1898 -- the last gold rush of the century.
|
| 1900 |
US
adopts the gold standard for its currency. |
| 1903 |
The
Engelhard Corporation introduces an organic medium to
print gold on surfaces. First used for decoration, the
medium becomes the foundation for microcircuit printing
technology. |
| 1922 |
King
Tutankhamun's tomb (1352 BC) opened to reveal a 2,448
lb. gold coffin and hundreds of gold and gold-leafed
objects (including the mask pictured at the beginning
of this section). |
| 1927 |
A
Medical study in France proves gold to be valuable in
treatment of Rheumatoid arthritis. |
| 1933 |
President
Franklin D. Roosevelt bans the export of gold, halts
the convertibility of dollar bills into gold, orders
US citizens to hand in all the gold they possess and
establishes a daily price for gold. |
| 1934 |
Roosevelt
fixes price of gold at $35 per ounce. |
| 1935 |
Western
Electric Alloy #1 (69% gold, 25% silver and 6% platinum)
finds universal use in all switching contacts for AT&T
telecommunications equipment. |
| 1944 |
The
Bretton Woods agreement sets an international gold exchange
standard and creates two new international organizations,
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World
Band. The new standard sets par values for currencies
in terms of gold and obligates member countries to convert
foreign offical holdings of their currencies into gold
at these par values. |
| 1947 |
The
first transistor, the building block for electronics,
is assembled at AT&T Bell Laboratories. The device
uses gold contacts pressed into a germanium surface. |
| 1960 |
The
laser is invented using gold-coated mirrors to maximize
infrared reflection. |
| 1961 |
Modern-day
mining begins in Nevada's Carlin Trend, ultimately making
Nevada the nation's largest gold-mining state. |
| 1968 |
Intel
introduces a microchip with 1,024 transistors connected
by gold circuits.
On
March 15, central banks give up fixed price of gold
at $35 per troy ounce and let it free float.
|
| 1969 |
Gold
coated visors protect the astronauts' eyes from searing
sunlight on the moon (Apollo 11 moon landing). |
| 1970 |
The
charged coupled device is invented, using gold to collect
electrons generated by light, eventually used in hundreds
of military and civilian devices, including video cameras. |
| 1971 |
The
colloidal gold marker system is introduced by Amersham
Corporation of Illinois. Tiny spheres of gold are used
in health research laboratories worldwide to mark or
tag specific proteins to reveal their function in the
human body for the treatment of disease. |
| 1973 |
The
U.S. Dollar is removed from gold standard, and gold
prices are allowed to float free. By June, the market
for gold in London reaches more than $120 per ounce. |
| 1974 |
On
December 31, US government ends its ban on individual
ownership of gold. |
| 1976 |
The
Gold Institute is established in Washington, D.C., to
promote the common interests of the gold industry by
providing statistical data and other relevant information
to its members, the media, government, and the public.
|
| 1980 |
Gold
reaches intra-day historic high price of $870 on January
21 in New York. |
| 1986 |
Gold-coated
compact discs are introduced. |
| 1987 |
Airbags
are introduced for cars, using gold contacts for reliability. |
| 1996 |
The
Mars Global Surveyor is launched with an on-board gold-coated
parabolic telescope-mirror that will generate a detailed
map of the entire Martian surface over a two-year period. |
| 1997 |
Congress
passes Taxpayers Relief Act, allowing US Individual
Retirement Account holders to buy gold bullion coins
and bars for their accounts as long as they are of a
fineness equal to, or exceeding, 99.5 percent gold. |
| 1999 |
The
Euro, a pan-European currency, is introduced, backed
by a new European Central Bank holding 15 percent of
its reserves in gold. |
| 2000 |
Astronomers
at the Keck Observatory in Hawaii use the giant gold-coated
mirrors of the observatory's twin telescopes to produce
the most detailed images of Neptune and Uranus ever
captured. |
IMPORTANT
DATES IN THE HISTORY OF GOLD