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 create
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 Dynasty, 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 Tutankhamen 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.
|
600-699AD
|
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 Tutankhamen's tomb (1352 BC) opened to reveal a
2,448 lb. gold coffin and hundreds of gold and gold-leafed
objects.
|
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
official 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.
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