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Portuguese escudo

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Portuguese escudo

The Portuguese escudo (Portuguese: escudo português, pronounced [(i)ʃˈkudu puɾtuˈɣeʃ]) 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 centavos. The word escudo literally means shield; like other coins with similar names, it depicts the coat of arms of the state.

Amounts in escudos were written as escudos Dollar sign with two vertical lines centavos with the cifrão as the decimal separator (for example: 25Dollar sign with two vertical lines00 means 25.00 escudos, 100Dollar sign with two vertical lines50 means 100.50 escudos). Because of the conversion rate of 1,000 réis = 1Dollar sign with two vertical lines, three decimal places were initially used (1Dollar sign with two vertical lines = 1Dollar sign with two vertical lines000).

The currency replaced by the escudo in 1911 was denominated in Portuguese reals (plural: réis) and milréis worth 1,000 réis. The milréis was equivalent to 2.0539 grams fine gold from 1688 to 1800, and 1.62585 g from 1854 to 1891. Gold escudos worth 1.6 milréis (or 1.600Dollar sign with two vertical lines; not to be confused with the 20th-century currency) were issued from 1722 to 1800 in denominations of 12, 1, 2, 4 and 8 escudos.

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 réis to 1 escudo. The term mil réis (thousand réis) remained a colloquial synonym of escudo up to the 1990s. One million réis was called one conto de réis, or simply one conto. This expression passed on to the escudo, meaning one thousand escudos.

The escudo's value was initially set at 675Dollar sign with two vertical lines = 1 kg of gold. After 1914, the value of the escudo fell, being fixed in 1928 at 108.25Dollar sign with two vertical lines to £1 sterling. This was altered to 110Dollar sign with two vertical lines to £1 stg in 1931. A new rate of 27.50Dollar sign with two vertical lines escudos to the U.S. dollar was established in 1940, changing to 25Dollar sign with two vertical lines in 1940 and 28.75Dollar sign with two vertical lines 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+12Dollar sign with two vertical lines eventually withdrawn from circulation in the 1990s. With the entry of Portugal in the Eurozone, the conversion rate to the euro was set at 200.482Dollar sign with two vertical lines = €1.

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 Banco Nacional Ultramarino and Banco de Angola banknotes (rather than those of the Bank of Portugal used in Portugal proper), with Portuguese and in some cases local coins circulating alongside:

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