Spanish peseta

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The peseta (banking code: ESP, standard abbreviation: Pta., Pts., or Ptas., symbol: ₧ (rare)) was the former currency of Spain and, along with the French franc, of Andorra until replaced by the euro in 1999 (de facto, 2002). It was originally divided into 100 céntimos or, informally, 4 reales.

The name is believed to have been derived from the Catalan word "peceta", meaning "little piece" (diminutive of "peça", "-eta" is the usual feminine diminutive in Catalan and does not exist in Spanish, Spanish equivalent is "-ita"), although it's also likely that the name is the dimunitive of "peso", an already-existing currency whose name derives from a unit of weight. This is consistent with other currencies, such as the British pound. Peseta is also the term used in Puerto Rico for a U.S. quarter.

The peseta was introduced in the second half of the 19th Century when Spain was preparing to join the Latin Monetary Union. Spain joined in 1868, the same year when the first peseta was minted. The peseta replaced the escudo as the chief monetary unit, at a rate of 2½ pesetas = 1 escudo. The peseta was equal to 4.5 grams of silver or 0.290322 grams of gold, the standard used by all the currencies of the Latin Monetary Union (including the French franc and Italian lira). Unfortunately for the tracking of change against the standard, due to the political turbulences of the early 20th century the monetary union faded away in the 1920s, though was not till 1927 that the union came to an end officially.

Contents 1 Coins 2 Banknotes 3 "Andorran" peseta 4 After the euro 5 Trivia 6 See also 7 External links

[edit] Coins

1 peseta 1998
King Juan Carlos I	Coat of arms

Until 19 June 2001, the following coins were minted by the Spanish Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre

Value	€ equiv.	Diameter	Weight	Composition
1 ₧	0.006 (0.01)	14 mm	0.55 g	Aluminium
5 ₧	0.03	17.5 mm	3 g	Aluminium bronze
10 ₧	0.06	18.5 mm	3 g	Cupronickel
25 ₧	0.15	19.5 mm	4.25 g	Aluminium bronze
50 ₧	0.30	20.5 mm	5.60 g	Cupronickel
100 ₧	0.60	24.5 mm	9.25 g	Aluminium bronze
200 ₧	1.20	25.5 mm	10.5 g	Cupronickel
500 ₧	3.01	28 mm	12 gr	Aluminium bronze

The 5 ₧ was referred colloquially as "duro".

The 50 ₧ coins issued between 1990 and 2000 were the first ^{[citation needed]} that featured the Spanish flower.

Spanish flower

[edit] Banknotes

The last banknotes series (1992) were:

Value	€ equiv.	Dimensions	Colour	Portrait
1000 ₧	6.01	130 × 65 mm	Green	Hernán Cortés and Francisco Pizarro
2000 ₧	12.02	138 × 68 mm	Red	José Celestino Mutis
5000 ₧	30.05	146 × 71 mm	Brown	Christopher Columbus
10 000 ₧	60.10	154 × 74 mm	Gray	Juan Carlos I of Spain and Jorge Juan de Ulloa

The 1000 ₧ note was coloquially known as "talego".

Other Banknotes series (1982-1987) were also legal tender:

Value	€ equiv.	Dimensions	Colour	Portrait
200 ₧	1.20	120 × 65 mm	Orange	Leopoldo Alas
500 ₧	3.01	129 × 70 mm	Dark blue	Rosalía de Castro
1000 ₧	6.01	138 × 75 mm	Green	Benito Pérez Galdós
2000 ₧	12.02	147 × 80 mm	Red	Juan Ramón Jiménez
5000 ₧	30.05	156 × 85 mm	Brown	Juan Carlos I of Spain
10 000 ₧	60.10	165 × 85 mm	Gray	Juan Carlos I of Spain and Felipe, Prince of Asturias

200 ₧ and 500 ₧ were very rare.

[edit] "Andorran" peseta

The Andorran peseta (ADP) was a 1:1 peg to the Spanish peseta. As Andorra used coins and banknotes from Spain, there was no separate Andorran peseta, and they were convertible into normal pesetas.

[edit] After the euro

The peseta was replaced by the euro (€) in 1999 on currency exchange boards. Euro coins and notes were introduced in January 2002, and in March 1, 2002, the peseta lost its legal tender status in Spain (also in Andorra). The exchange rate was 1 EUR = 166.386 ESP

Peseta notes and coins that were legal tender on December 31, 2001, remain exchangeable indefinitely at any branch of the central bank.

[edit] Trivia

The GameCube game Resident Evil 4 is set in an unnamed, Spanish-speaking region in Europe where the currency is the peseta, even though the game takes place in 2004 and the peseta had become obsolete by then.

[edit] See also

• Latin Monetary Union (1865-1927)
• Spanish-American War (1898)
• First World War (1914-1918/1919)
• Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
• Latin Union (Since 1954)
• European Union (Since 1957)
• Euro (From 1999/2002)
• Spanish euro coins
• Commemorative coins of Spain

[edit] External links

• Overview of the peseta from the BBC
• History of the Spanish Currencies from 1492 to the 21st Century
• The Old Spanish Peseta of the late 1800s - Reign of King Alfonso XIII of Spain
• Spanish Speaking World in AD 1750
• Spanish Peseta currency calculator
• Banco de España: last peseta issues

Preceded by: Spanish silver escudo

Spanish currency 1868-1999[1]

Succeeded by: Euro

1. ^ 1999 by law, 2002 de facto.

Pre-euro and other EU currencies

Eurozone Austrian Schilling | Belgian franc | Dutch gulden | Finnish mark | French franc | German Mark | Greek drachma | Irish pound (punt) | Italian lira | Luxembourgish franc | Monegasque franc | Portuguese escudo | Sammarinese lira | Spanish peseta | Vatican lira ERM II Cypriot pound | Danish krone | Estonian kroon | Latvian lats | Lithuanian litas | Maltese lira | Slovak koruna | Slovenian tolar Other EU British pound | Bulgarian lev | Czech koruna | Gibraltarian pound | Hungarian forint | Polish złoty | Romanian leu | Swedish krona This box: view • talk • edit