Portuguese escudo
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox currency The Portuguese escudo (Template:Langx, Template:IPA) was the currency of Portugal replacing the real on 22 May 1911 and was in use until the introduction of the euro on 1 January 2002. The escudo was subdivided into 100 Template:Lang. The word Template:Lang literally means shield; like other coins with similar names, it depicts the coat of arms of the state.
Amounts in escudos were written as Template:Lang Template:Cifrão Template:Lang with the Template:Lang as the decimal separator (for example: Template:Cifrão means 25.00 escudos, Template:Cifrão means 100.50 escudos). Because of the conversion rate of 1,000 Template:Lang = Template:Cifrão, three decimal places were initially used (Template:Cifrão = Template:Cifrão).
History
The currency replaced by the escudo in 1911 was denominated in Portuguese reals (plural: Template:Lang) and Template:Lang worth 1,000 Template:Lang. The Template:Lang was equivalent to 2.0539 grams fine gold from 1688 to 1800, and 1.62585 g from 1854 to 1891. Gold Template:Lang worth 1.6 Template:Lang (or 1.600Template:Cifrão; not to be confused with the 20th-century currency) were issued from 1722 to 1800 in denominations of Template:Frac, 1, 2, 4 and 8 Template:Lang.
The escudo (gold) was again introduced on 22 May 1911, after the 1910 Republican revolution, to replace the real at the rate of 1,000 Template:Lang to 1 Template:Lang. The term Template:Lang (thousand Template:Lang) remained a colloquial synonym of Template:Lang up to the 1990s. One million Template:Lang was called one Template:Lang, or simply one Template:Lang. This expression passed on to the escudo, meaning one thousand escudos.
The escudo's value was initially set at 675Template:Cifrão = 1 kg of gold. After 1914, the value of the escudo fell, being fixed in 1928 at 108.25Template:Cifrão to £1 sterling. This was altered to 110Template:Cifrão to £1 stg in 1931. A new rate of 27.50Template:Cifrão escudos to the U.S. dollar was established in 1940, changing to 25Template:Cifrão in 1940 and 28.75Template:Cifrão in 1949.
During World War II, escudos were heavily sought after by Nazi Germany, through Swiss banks, as foreign currency to make purchases to Portugal and other neutral nations.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Inflation throughout the 20th century made centavos essentially worthless by its end, with fractional value coins with values such as 50 centavos and Template:FracTemplate:Cifrão eventually withdrawn from circulation in the 1990s. With the entry of Portugal in the Eurozone, the conversion rate to the euro was set at 200.482Template:Cifrão = €1.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Territorial usage
The escudo was used in the Portuguese mainland, the Azores and Madeira, with no distinction of coins or banknotes. In Portugal's African colonies, the escudo was generally used up to independence, in the form of Template:Lang and Template:Lang banknotes (rather than those of the Bank of Portugal used in Portugal proper), with Portuguese and in some cases local coins circulating alongside:
- Angolan escudo
- Cape Verdean escudo
- Mozambican escudo
- Portuguese Guinean escudo
- São Tomé and Príncipe escudo
Of the above, only Cape Verde continues to use the escudo.
In Macau, the currency during the colonial period was, as it is today, the Macanese pataca.
Timor-Leste adopted the Portuguese Timorese escudo whilst still a Portuguese colony, having earlier used the Portuguese Timor pataca.
Portuguese India adopted the Portuguese Indian escudo for a brief time between 1958 and 1961 before Goa became a part of India; prior to that, it used the Portuguese Indian rupia.
Coins
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The mintage period for the various denominations of the gold escudo (worth 1.6 Template:Lang or 1.600Template:Cifrão) introduced in 1722 was different: Template:Frac escudo through 1821,Template:Sfn 2 escudos through 1789,Template:Sfn and 4 escudos through 1799.Template:Sfn The eight-escudo coin was only struck between 1722 and 1730.Template:Sfn
Between 1912 and 1916, silver 10, 20 and 50 centavos and 1Template:Cifrão coins were issued. Bronze 1 and 2 centavos and cupro-nickel 4 centavo coins were issued between 1917 and 1922.
In 1920, bronze 5 centavos and cupro-nickel 10 and 20 centavo coins were introduced, followed, in 1924, by bronze 10 and 20 centavos and aluminium-bronze 50 centavos and 1Template:Cifrão coins. Aluminium bronze was replaced with cupro-nickel in 1927.
In 1932, silver coins were introduced for Template:FracTemplate:Cifrão, 5Template:Cifrão and 10Template:Cifrão. The Template:FracTemplate:Cifrão and 5Template:Cifrão were minted until 1951, with the 10Template:Cifrão minted until 1955 with a reduced silver content. In 1963, cupro-nickel Template:FracTemplate:Cifrão and 5Template:Cifrão were introduced, followed by aluminium 10, bronze 20 and 50 centavos and 1Template:Cifrão in 1969. Cupro-nickel 10Template:Cifrão and 25Template:Cifrão were introduced in 1971 and 1977, respectively. In 1986, a new coinage was introduced which circulated until replacement by the euro. It consisted of nickel-brass 1Template:Cifrão, 5Template:Cifrão and 10Template:Cifrão, cupro-nickel 20Template:Cifrão and 50Template:Cifrão, with bimetallic 100Template:Cifrão and 200Template:Cifrão introduced in 1989 and 1991.
Coins in circulation at the time of the changeover to the euro were:
- 1Template:Cifrão (0.50 cent)
- 5Template:Cifrão (2.49 cents)
- 10Template:Cifrão (4.99 cents)
- 20Template:Cifrão (9.98 cents)
- 50Template:Cifrão (24.94 cents)
- 100Template:Cifrão (49.88 cents)
- 200Template:Cifrão (99.76 cents)
Coins ceased to be exchangeable for euros on December 31, 2002.
Another name for the 50 centavos coin was Template:Lang (crown). Long after the 50 centavos coins disappeared, people still called the Template:FracTemplate:Cifrão coins Template:Lang ("five crowns").
Also, people still referred to escudos at the time of the changeover in multiples of the older currency Template:Lang (plural Template:Lang). Many people called the Template:FracTemplate:Cifrão coins Template:Lang (two and five-hundreds), referring to the correspondence Template:FracTemplate:Cifrão = 2500 Template:Lang. Template:Lang (plural Template:Lang) is yet another multiple of Template:Lang, with 1 Template:Lang = 100 Template:Lang.
Banknotes
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The Template:Lang issued notes for 5, 10, and 20 centavos between 1917 and 1925 whilst, between 1913 and 1922, the Template:Lang introduced notes for 50 centavos, 1Template:Cifrão, Template:FracTemplate:Cifrão, 5Template:Cifrão, 10Template:Cifrão, 20Template:Cifrão, 50Template:Cifrão, 100Template:Cifrão, 500Template:Cifrão and 1,000Template:Cifrão. 50 centavos and 1Template:Cifrão notes ceased production in 1920, followed by Template:FracTemplate:Cifrão, 5Template:Cifrão and 10Template:Cifrão in 1925 and 1926. 5,000Template:Cifrão notes were introduced in 1942.
The last 20Template:Cifrão and 50Template:Cifrão notes were printed dated 1978 and 1980, respectively, with 100Template:Cifrão notes being replaced by coins in 1989, the same year that the 10,000Template:Cifrão note was introduced.
Banknotes in circulation at the time of the changeover to the euro were:
- 500Template:Cifrão (€2.49)
- 1,000Template:Cifrão (€4.99)
- 2,000Template:Cifrão (€9.98)
- 5,000Template:Cifrão (€24.94)
- 10,000Template:Cifrão (€49.88)
The last series of escudo banknotes could be returned to the central bank Template:Lang and converted to euros until 28 February 2022.
Escudo banknotes celebrated notable figures from the history of Portugal. The final banknote series featured the Age of Discovery, with Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, and Henry the Navigator.
| Portuguese Discoveries series (1995–2002) Template:Small | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image | Value | Euro equivalent |
Dimensions (mm) |
Main colour |
Description | Issued from |
Lapse | |||
| Obverse | Reverse | |||||||||
| [1] | 500Template:Cifrão | €2.49 | 125 × 68 | Red | João de Barros | Merchant and scholar; Códice Casanatense |
1997, 2000 | 2022 | ||
| [2] | 1000Template:Cifrão | €4.99 | 132 × 68 | Purple | Pedro Álvares Cabral | Cabral's ship Template:Small; Brazilian flora and fauna | 1996, 1997, 2000 | |||
| [3] | 2000Template:Cifrão | €9.98 | 139 × 68 | Blue | Bartolomeu Dias | Caravels; map by Henricus Martellus Germanus |
1995, 1996, 1997, 2000 | |||
| [4] | 5000Template:Cifrão | €24.94 | 146 × 75 | Green | Vasco da Gama | Sailing ship; tapestry of Chegada de Vasco da Gama |
1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 | |||
| [5] | 10000Template:Cifrão | €49.88 | 153 × 75 | Burgundy | Henry the Navigator | Caravel; cover of Crónica dos Feitos da Guiné |
1996, 1997, 1998 | |||
| Template:Standard banknote table notice | ||||||||||
Colloquial expressions
Template:Lang was the unofficial multiple of the escudo: 1 Template:Lang meant 1,000Template:Cifrão, 2 Template:Lang meant 2,000Template:Cifrão and so on. The original expression was Template:Lang, which means 'one count of Template:Lang' and referred to one million Template:Lang. Since the escudo was worth 1,000 Template:Lang (the older currency), therefore one Template:Lang was the same as a thousand escudos. The expression remained in usage after the advent of the euro, albeit less often, meaning €5, roughly worth 1,000Template:Cifrão.
Occasionally Template:Lang, literally meaning 'sticks', was also used to refer to the escudo ("Template:Lang" – 'Do you have 1,000 escudos/sticks?'). During the move from escudos to euros the Portuguese had a joke saying that they had lost three currencies: the Template:Lang, the Template:Lang, and the Template:Lang.
See also
Notes
- Template:Note 1999 by law, 2002 de facto.
References
Sources
External links
- Overview of the Portuguese escudo from the BBC
- Portuguese escudo coins
- Historical banknotes from Portugal Template:In lang
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