Portuguese escudo

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Template other The Portuguese escudo (Template:Langx, ) 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 . The word 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:Cifrão with the 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: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: ) and worth 1,000 . The was equivalent to 2.0539 grams fine gold from 1688 to 1800, and 1.62585 g from 1854 to 1891. Gold worth 1.6 (or 1.600Template:Cifrão; not to be confused with the 20th-century currency) were issued from 1722 to 1800 in denominations of 1⁄2, 1, 2, 4 and 8 .

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 to 1 . The term (thousand ) remained a colloquial synonym of up to the 1990s. One million was called one , or simply one . 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.

Inflation throughout the 20th century made centavos essentially worthless by its end, with fractional value coins with values such as 50 centavos and 2+1⁄2Template:Cifrão eventually withdrawn from circulation in the 1990s.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.

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 and 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

File:Portugal 1729 8 Escudos.jpg

Portuguese 8 gold escudos (1729)

File:PRT025.JPG

Portuguese 4 centavos, 1917

File:2.5 Escudo (1981).jpg

2.50 escudos, 1981

The mintage period for the various denominations of the gold escudo (worth 1.6 or 1.600Template:Cifrão) introduced in 1722 was different: 1⁄2 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 2+1⁄2Template:Cifrão, 5Template:Cifrão and 10Template:Cifrão. The 2+1⁄2Template:Cifrão and 5Template:Cifrão were minted until 1951, with the 10Template:Cifrão minted until 1955 with a reduced silver content. In 1963, cupro-nickel 2+1⁄2Template: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.

Last series (1986–1991)
Image	Value	Technical parameters				Description			Issued from
		Diameter (mm)	Mass (g)	Composition		Edge	Obverse	Reverse
File:Portugal 1 escudo.JPGFile:Portugal 1 escudo 2.JPG	1Template:Cifrão	16.00	1.70		Nickel-brass	Reeded	Coat of arms; knot; year of issue; lettering: Republica Portuguesa	Filigrees; value	1986–2001
File:Portugal 5 escudo.JPGFile:Portugal 5 escudo 2.JPG	5Template:Cifrão	21.00	5.30
File:Portugal 10 escudo.JPGFile:Portugal 10 escudo 2.jpg	10Template:Cifrão	23.50	7.40
File:Portugal 20 escudo.JPGFile:Portugal 20 escudo 2.JPG	20Template:Cifrão	26.50	6.90		Cupronickel		Coat of arms; value; year of issue; lettering: Republica Portuguesa	Nautical compass; Order of Christ cross
File:Portugal 50 escudo.JPGFile:Portugal 50 escudo 2.JPG	50Template:Cifrão	31.00	9.40					Three-masted ship
File:Portugal 100 escudo.JPGFile:Portugal 100 escudo 2.JPG	100Template:Cifrão	25.50	8.30		Outer: Cupronickel	Interrupted reeding		Pedro Nunes; stars; lettering: EUROPA	1989–2001
					Inner: Aluminium bronze
File:Portogallo 200 escudos.JPG	200Template:Cifrão	28.00	9.80		Outer: Aluminium bronze			Garcia de Orta; waves; wheat ears	1991–2001
					Inner: Cupronickel

Another name for the 50 centavos coin was (crown). Long after the 50 centavos coins disappeared, people still called the 2+1⁄2Template:Cifrão coins ("five crowns").

Also, people still referred to escudos at the time of the changeover in multiples of the older currency (plural ). Many people called the 2+1⁄2Template:Cifrão coins (two and five-hundreds), referring to the correspondence 2+1⁄2Template:Cifrão = 2500 . (plural ) is yet another multiple of , with 1 = 100 .

Banknotes

File:Counterfeit 500 escudo note (upper) and a genuine banknote (lower) of Banco de Portugal. Both carry the same serial number of 1K 02201, 1922. On display at the British Museum in London.jpg

Counterfeit 500Template:Cifrão note (upper) and a genuine banknote (lower) of Banco de Portugal. Both carry the same serial number of 1K 02201, 1922. On display at the British Museum in London

The issued notes for 5, 10, and 20 centavos between 1917 and 1925 whilst, between 1913 and 1922, the introduced notes for 50 centavos, 1Template:Cifrão, 2+1⁄2Template: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 2+1⁄2Template: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 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 , , , , and Henry the Navigator.

Portuguese Discoveries series (1995–2002) Designer: Luís Filipe de Abreu
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 (Livro de Lisuarte de Abreu); 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
For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

Colloquial expressions

was the unofficial multiple of the escudo: 1 meant 1,000Template:Cifrão, 2 meant 2,000Template:Cifrão and so on. The original expression was , which means 'one count of ' and referred to one million . Since the escudo was worth 1,000 (the older currency), therefore one 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 , literally meaning 'sticks', was also used to refer to the escudo ("" – '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 , the , and the .

See also

• Portuguese euro coins
• Economy of Portugal
• Economic history of Portugal

Notes

1. ^ 1999 by law, 2002 de facto.

External links

• Overview of the Portuguese escudo from the BBC
• Portuguese escudo coins
• Historical banknotes from Portugal Template:In lang