Gold has fascinated people since the beginning of recorded history.

Ancient Egyptians believed the skin of their gods were golden and Egypt's gold-producing regions at the time made it into a wealthy nation.

A thousand years later, Greeks started mining for gold throughout the Mediterranean and Middle East regions.

Romans mined gold extensively throughout the empire, developing the technology of mining to new levels of sophistication - they would divert streams of water in order to mine hydraulically, and even pioneered 'roasting', the technique of separating gold from rock.

By the Middle Ages, Venice introduced the gold "Ducat," which became the most popular coin in the world for the next 500 years.

In 1511, King Ferdinand of Spain made his famous call to action to "get gold," launching massive expeditions to the newly found Americas.

In 1700, gold was discovered in Brazil, and by 1720 it became the largest gold producer, responsible for nearly two-thirds of the world's output.

In 1744, the resurgence of gold mining in Russia began with the discovery of a quartz outcrop in Ekaterinbug.

In the 19th century, gold mining expanded around the world: the 1848 California Gold Rush hastened the settlement of the American West; South Africa became a major source of the world's gold after an 1869 discovery in the Witwatersrand Basin and the Yukon Gold Rush followed in 1896.

Approximately 65% of all gold in the world has been mined since 1950.

Significant dates in modern gold history

• August, 1971: Then-U.S. President Richard Nixon takes the U.S. dollar off the gold standard, which had been in place with minor modifications since the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944 fixed the conversion rate for one Troy ounce of gold at $35 (U.S.).
• March, 1973: Most major countries adopt floating-exchange-rate system.
• January, 1980: Gold hits record high of $850 an ounce.
• August, 1999: Gold falls to a low of $251.70.
• November, 2004: SPDR Gold Shares ETF launched
• November, 2005: Spot gold breaches $500 for the first time since December 1987.
• May 12, 2006: Gold prices peak at $730 an ounce.
• November 7, 2007: Spot gold hits a 28-year high of $845.40 an ounce.
• March 13, 2008: Benchmark gold contract trades over $1,000 for the first time in U.S. futures market.
• Sept. 17, 2008: Spot gold rises by nearly $90 an ounce, a record one-day gain.
• September 2010: Gold prices reach $1,300 an ounce.