Spanish currency: from the real to the euro. Coins of Spain

Spain is a large state in Southern Europe,limits of the Iberian Peninsula. The country can be proud of its history and rich cultural heritage. No less interesting are the money and coins of Spain, as well as the history of the development of the national currency of this ancient state.

Spanish currency: from real to peseta

In 2002, the country joined the so-called Eurozone. But as the currency of Spain was called before the euro - not everyone knows ...

In general, the evolution of the Spanish monetarycurrency passed on the following chain: real - escudo - peseta - euro. Real Madrid was introduced into circulation in the XIV century by King Pedro the First. This monetary unit remained in the status of the main currency of the Spanish kingdom for five centuries in a row. Real was equivalent to three maravedi (older Iberian coins).

To replace the real in 1864 came escudo (intranslation from the Spanish language escudo is a "shield"). These coins were minted both from gold and silver. In different years, one escudo corresponded to a certain number of reais.

From 1869 to 2002 throughout Spain inthere were pesetas. They were made of various metals and alloys (aluminum, bronze, copper, nickel and others). The very word peseta from Spanish translates as "a piece of something." One Spanish peseta was divided into 100 centimo.

In the summer of 1874, the firstpaper banknotes. These were denominations of 25, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 pesetas. Initially, the number of paper banknotes was limited, so they had the right to use only banks and some financial institutions.

Euro - the modern currency of Spain

In 2002, the peseta stopped its officialExistence. The country introduced the euro. The reverse of all these coins is traditionally the same for all countries of the Eurozone. But the obverse in each state is formed in its own way. On modern coins of Spain you can see the face of King Felipe VI, revered by thousands of pilgrims Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, as well as the image of the writer Miguel Cervantes.

By the way, if somebody from the inhabitants of this beautiful sunny country still has pesetas in their hands, he can freely exchange them in a bank and get a running euro.

It should be noted that not all Spaniards wereagree with the transition to the euro. To their old currency, they are still very reverent. For example, in the town of Estepona in the south of the country even installed a monument in honor of the pesetas.

Coins of Spain

Since 1869, in the state, pesetas and centimo were minted centrally. Some coins of Spain of this period are of great value among numismatists.

For example, many collectors are interested in coinsduring the Civil War (late 1930s). In this historical period in Spain, each of the armies issued their own money (there were 15 of them in total). Coins with the image of the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco of the 40-50th years of release are interesting to numismatists.

Spanish coins are quite interesting anda diverse set of drawings and images. On their "body" you can see the shields, sailboats and anchors, olive branches, gears and grape clusters.

Did not pass around the coins of this country andfootball theme. Still would! After all, the Spanish national football team is one of the strongest in the modern world. So, on the coins of 1982 release you can see the images of balls and nets of the football goal. It was in this year that Spain hosted the World Cup.

Finally

Real, escudo, peseta, euro ... It was thisthe historical evolution of the national currency of Spain. The very first coin in this country was minted 2,5 thousand years ago. The first paper money in Spain was printed in 1874. Many coins of Spain are objects of interest for numismatists.

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