The development of the currency in Portugal

February 2016

The first currency in Portugal

The “Dinheiro” (money) was the currency of Portugal since the end of the twelfth century until the year 1433.

At the time of D. Afonso Henriques (1143-1185), first king of Portugal, still circulating Roman coins (denários e áureos) and Leonese and Muslim coins.

In response to Muslim gold coins, the Portuguese monarchy coined the gold Morabitinos (Dinheiro).

The second currency in Portugal

“Real” (royal) was the name for the second currency in Portugal.

The “Real” (plural: Reais), later popularized as “Réis” (kings) was the Portugal unit of currency from about 1430 to 1911. It replaced the “Dinheiro” (money) at the rate of 1 Real = 840 “dinheiros”.

The third currency in Portugal

After the currency “Réis", Portugal began using another type of currency, the “Escudo” (shield) when they established the Republic (1910).

The symbol used was the “cifrão ($)”.

This was the third currency in Portugalat a rate of 1000 réis = 1 escudo

The fourth currency in Portugal

Portugal is indeed a member of the European Union since 1st January of 1986.On 31st December of 2001, they fixed the conversion rate between the Euro and the “Escudo". €1 = $200.482On the 1st January of 2002, we start using the currency of Euro, coins and bills. The “Escudo” can only be exchanged at the bank.

Examples of the bills: 500 Réis, 500 Escudos and 500

Euros