Испания, бывшая некогда величайшей Империей не only Europe, but the whole globe, knew in its history both dizzying ups and periods of deep economic depression. But for many centuries, Spain's national currency has demonstrated tremendous stability, secured by gold overseas colonies (mainly South American).
The beginning of Spanish rule on the seas and on landput the Reconquista, which ended in 1492-th year. It was she who proclaimed the birth of the new political force of Europe, which was destined to become the main character of the European history of the sixteenth century, when the newly empire grew and consolidated at the expense of its overseas possessions, relentlessly increasing its economic and military potential, and also gaining great political weight.
В этот период валюта Испании – реал, остававшийся the main monetary unit of the country from the middle of the fourteenth century to 1864, was valued in the expanses of the Old World in the same way as the dollar is now. The military and political might of the Spanish crown maintained the real rate at the proper level. During this long historical period, the various currencies of Spain were minted. The most famous at that time was the so-called "real 8" - a coin worth eight realties, which appeared in the late fifteenth century.
Due to its wide distribution on theAmerican continent and even in Europe, this coin can rightly be considered the world's first real international (convertible) currency. Curious and the fact that on the Iberian Peninsula, in the heart of the empire, the real for several centuries peacefully coexisted with other Iberian currencies. For example, with a gold escudo, which was circulated between 1535 and 1833, or with the Moorish coin of Moravedi adopted by various Christian kingdoms.
В 1864-м году многовековая валюта Испании реал was replaced by a new silver escudo. True, this monetary unit did not last long. Already in 1868 the new currency of Spain, which joined the Latin Currency Union, under the terms of which free circulation of European monetary units was provided on the territory of the member countries, was peseta.
And until January 1, 2002, anya resident of the country, responding to a question about what currency in Spain could safely call the peset - with the accession to the Spanish financial throne pesetas, other currencies were abolished. The last series of minted metal pesetas were coins with a nominal value of 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 200 and 500. As for paper banknotes, they were issued in the following dignity: 200, 500, 1000, 2000, 5000, 10000 pesetas.
The exchange rate today in Spain is not much differentfrom other states of the Eurozone. This is not surprising - this Pyrenean state is an integral part of the European Community, each member of which has the right to print a unified currency for their own needs. In this case, before the serial number, you must specify your own letter, according to which the notes differ. Spain is given the letter V. Euromoney is also highly individual for each state. The smallest Spanish coins are made of steel, covered with a copper shell.
A coin with a face value of two euro cents has on the edgespecial corrugation, and the rest are made of a special copper alloy containing aluminum, zinc and tin. Outwardly, the coins of these denominations can be distinguished by the presence of a transverse relief strip. At large dignities, individual patterns are minted in one and two euros, and there is also special small corrugation on them.
