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Currency of Spanish America
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Currency of Spanish America
This article provides an outline of the currency of Spanish America (las Indias, the Indies) from Spanish colonization in the 15th century until Spanish American independencies in the 19th. This great realm was divided into the Viceroyalty of New Spain (capital: Mexico City), which came to include all Spanish territory north of Panama, the West Indies, Venezuela, and the Philippines, and the Viceroyalty of Peru (capital: Lima), which included Panama and all Spanish territory in South America except Venezuela. The monetary system of Spanish America, originally identical to that of Spain, soon diverged and took on a distinctive character of its own, which it passed on to the independent nations that followed after.
Real (R) = 34 Maravedíes (mrs)
After the Spanish kingdoms were united under Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile and soon after the conquest of Granada, the Spanish monetary system was reformed. This caused some damage to the kingdom. The maravedí had served as the Spanish money of account since the 11th century, but on June 2, 1497 the Ordinance of Medina del Campo (site of the great international fairs) made the real the unit of account, with the maravedí defined as a fraction of it (the 34th part). The standard silver coin became the real of 3·434 g, 0·9306 fine (3·195 g silver), rated 34 maravedíes. There was also a half, a 3, and a 6-real coin. This reform adopted the excelente (called ducado from 1504) for gold, a copy of the Venetian ducat, 3·521 g, 23+3⁄4 carats fine (3484·442 mg gold), rated 375 maravedíes. A third standard coin was the blanca, a small coin of 1·198 g, worth half a maravedí. The blanca was a copper coin containing a trace of silver, a type of coin known as billon, wellón in Spanish. This was the monetary system that the Spaniards brought to the New World.
The first distinctive coins minted for Spanish America were copper 4-maravedí pieces authorized for Santo Domingo by Ferdinand on December 20, 1505 (later confirmed by his daughter, Johanna, on May 10, 1531). These coins were minted in Spain (at Burgos and Seville) and shipped to Santo Domingo (Hispaniola), and subsequently also to Mexico and Panama. The first were struck 1502–1504 in the name of Ferdinand and Isabella, with an F-I monogram obverse and pillars reverse. Ferdinand died in 1516, and Johanna's son Charles became King Carlos I of Aragon and Regent of Castille, so the last coppers struck in the early 1520s had a Carlos-Johanna monogram.
Charles, who was also Holy Roman Emperor (as Karl V), reformed the gold coinage in 1537, replacing the ducado with the escudo or corona, essentially a debased ducat. The escudo, 24 mm, 3·383 g, 0·9167 fine (3101·117 mg gold), was rated 350 mrs. The ducado was not minted after 1537 but continued as a money of account (Ducado = 375 Maravedíes), especially for foreign exchange.
Charles sent silver coins to New Spain in 1523, but this was insufficient for local commerce. A sort of "coin" was produced at Mexico City: gold discs stamped with their weight and fineness and sometimes with royal countermarks. These discs are known as Tepuzque (the Aztec word for copper) gold or peso de oro. Although not strictly coins, they did serve as money and circulated as late as 1591. No examples are known to exist.
Mexico City was growing and by 1525 it was petitioning the crown for a mint to produce coin locally in order to facilitate trade. This wish was granted by royal ordinance of May 11, 1535 and a mint opened and began producing silver coins at Mexico City in April 1536.
The first silver struck in the Indies (Spanish America), known as the pillar type because it depicted the pillars of Hercules, were hand struck, typically on a full-sized round planchet of even thickness. Obv.: the crowned shield of Leon and Castile, quartered with castle and lion, with the pomegranate of Granada at the point of the shield, and on either side a mintmark (M for Mexico), the rim inscribed KAROLVS ET IOHANA REGES. Rev.: two crowned columns (pillars of Hercules) with PLVS (for plus ultra) on a banner and the value (dots or a number) between them, the rim continuing the inscription with HISPANIARVM ET INDIARVM. The full inscription appears only on the larger coins, becoming more abbreviated as coins size decreases. The small quarter real has a crowned initial K without mintmark obverse (instead of the shield); the half real had the initials K I and the mintmark below. The assayer's initial appears either on the reverse between the column bases (R or G), or on the obverse in place of one of the two mintmarks (P or F).
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Currency of Spanish America
This article provides an outline of the currency of Spanish America (las Indias, the Indies) from Spanish colonization in the 15th century until Spanish American independencies in the 19th. This great realm was divided into the Viceroyalty of New Spain (capital: Mexico City), which came to include all Spanish territory north of Panama, the West Indies, Venezuela, and the Philippines, and the Viceroyalty of Peru (capital: Lima), which included Panama and all Spanish territory in South America except Venezuela. The monetary system of Spanish America, originally identical to that of Spain, soon diverged and took on a distinctive character of its own, which it passed on to the independent nations that followed after.
Real (R) = 34 Maravedíes (mrs)
After the Spanish kingdoms were united under Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile and soon after the conquest of Granada, the Spanish monetary system was reformed. This caused some damage to the kingdom. The maravedí had served as the Spanish money of account since the 11th century, but on June 2, 1497 the Ordinance of Medina del Campo (site of the great international fairs) made the real the unit of account, with the maravedí defined as a fraction of it (the 34th part). The standard silver coin became the real of 3·434 g, 0·9306 fine (3·195 g silver), rated 34 maravedíes. There was also a half, a 3, and a 6-real coin. This reform adopted the excelente (called ducado from 1504) for gold, a copy of the Venetian ducat, 3·521 g, 23+3⁄4 carats fine (3484·442 mg gold), rated 375 maravedíes. A third standard coin was the blanca, a small coin of 1·198 g, worth half a maravedí. The blanca was a copper coin containing a trace of silver, a type of coin known as billon, wellón in Spanish. This was the monetary system that the Spaniards brought to the New World.
The first distinctive coins minted for Spanish America were copper 4-maravedí pieces authorized for Santo Domingo by Ferdinand on December 20, 1505 (later confirmed by his daughter, Johanna, on May 10, 1531). These coins were minted in Spain (at Burgos and Seville) and shipped to Santo Domingo (Hispaniola), and subsequently also to Mexico and Panama. The first were struck 1502–1504 in the name of Ferdinand and Isabella, with an F-I monogram obverse and pillars reverse. Ferdinand died in 1516, and Johanna's son Charles became King Carlos I of Aragon and Regent of Castille, so the last coppers struck in the early 1520s had a Carlos-Johanna monogram.
Charles, who was also Holy Roman Emperor (as Karl V), reformed the gold coinage in 1537, replacing the ducado with the escudo or corona, essentially a debased ducat. The escudo, 24 mm, 3·383 g, 0·9167 fine (3101·117 mg gold), was rated 350 mrs. The ducado was not minted after 1537 but continued as a money of account (Ducado = 375 Maravedíes), especially for foreign exchange.
Charles sent silver coins to New Spain in 1523, but this was insufficient for local commerce. A sort of "coin" was produced at Mexico City: gold discs stamped with their weight and fineness and sometimes with royal countermarks. These discs are known as Tepuzque (the Aztec word for copper) gold or peso de oro. Although not strictly coins, they did serve as money and circulated as late as 1591. No examples are known to exist.
Mexico City was growing and by 1525 it was petitioning the crown for a mint to produce coin locally in order to facilitate trade. This wish was granted by royal ordinance of May 11, 1535 and a mint opened and began producing silver coins at Mexico City in April 1536.
The first silver struck in the Indies (Spanish America), known as the pillar type because it depicted the pillars of Hercules, were hand struck, typically on a full-sized round planchet of even thickness. Obv.: the crowned shield of Leon and Castile, quartered with castle and lion, with the pomegranate of Granada at the point of the shield, and on either side a mintmark (M for Mexico), the rim inscribed KAROLVS ET IOHANA REGES. Rev.: two crowned columns (pillars of Hercules) with PLVS (for plus ultra) on a banner and the value (dots or a number) between them, the rim continuing the inscription with HISPANIARVM ET INDIARVM. The full inscription appears only on the larger coins, becoming more abbreviated as coins size decreases. The small quarter real has a crowned initial K without mintmark obverse (instead of the shield); the half real had the initials K I and the mintmark below. The assayer's initial appears either on the reverse between the column bases (R or G), or on the obverse in place of one of the two mintmarks (P or F).
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