Spanish colonial real

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The real was the currency of Spain's colonies in the Americas. The real was equal to the Spanish real de plata. Gold escudos (worth 16 reales) were also issued. The coins circulated throughout Spain's colonies and beyond, with the eight reales piece (also known as the Spanish dollar) becoming an international standard and spawning, among other currencies, the United States dollar.

1 History
2 Coins
3 References
4 See Also

[edit] History

Coins were produced at mints in Bogotá, Caracas, Nueva Guatemala, Lima, Mexico City, Popayán, Potosí, Santo Domingo and Santiago. For details, see the Colombian, Mexican, Peruvian and Venezuelan reales. After the independence of Spain's colonies, the real was replaced by currencies also denominated in reales and escudos, including the Argentine, Central American Republic, Ecuadorian, Honduran, Paraguayan and Santo Domingo real.

[edit] Coins

Unlike in Spain, the copper maravedí was generally not struck by the colonial mints. Most issued silver coins in denominations of ¼, ½, 1, 2, 4 and 8 reales and gold coins for ½, 1, 2, 4 and 8 escudos. One exception was the Santo Domingo mint, which did strike maravedís.