![]() ![]() This wish was granted by royal ordinance of and a mint opened and began producing silver coins at Mexico City in April 1536. Mexico City was growing and by 1525 it was petitioning the crown for a mint to produce coin locally in order to facilitate trade. Although not strictly coins, they did serve as money and circulated as late as 1591. These discs are known as Tepuzque (the Aztec word for copper) gold or peso de oro. A sort of "coin" was produced at Mexico City: gold discs stamped with their weight and fineness and sometimes with royal countermarks. The ducado was not minted after 1537 but continued as a money of account (Ducado = 375 Maravedíes), especially for foreign exchange.Ĭharles sent silver coins to New Spain in 1523, but this was insufficient for local commerce. Ferdinand died in 1516, and Johanna's son Charles became King Carlos I of Aragon and Regent of Castille, so the last coppers struck in the early 1520s had a Carlos-Johanna monogram.ġ516–1556 Charles I Escudo gold Ĭharles, who was also Holy Roman Emperor (as Karl V), reformed the gold coinage in 1537, replacing the ducado with the escudo or corona, essentially a debased ducat. ![]() The first were struck 1502–1504 in the name of Ferdinand and Isabella, with an F-I monogram obverse and pillars reverse. ![]() These coins were minted in Spain (at Burgos and Seville) and shipped to Santo Domingo ( Hispaniola), and subsequently also to Mexico and Panama. The first distinctive coins minted for Spanish America were copper 4-maravedí pieces authorized for Santo Domingo by Ferdinand on Decem(later confirmed by his daughter, Johanna, on May 10, 1531). This was the monetary system that the Spaniards brought to the New World.ġ502 Copper coins for Santo Domingo The blanca was a copper coin containing a trace of silver, a type of coin known as billon, vellón in Spanish. A third standard coin was the blanca, a small coin of 1♱98 g, worth half a maravedí. This reform adopted the excelente (called ducado from 1504) for gold, a copy of the Venetian ducat, 3♵21 g, 23¾ carats fine (3484♴42 mg gold), rated 375 maravedíes. There was also a half, a 3, and a 6-real coin. The standard silver coin became the real of 3♴34 g, 0♹306 fine (3♱95 g silver), rated 34 maravedíes. The maravedí had served as the Spanish money of account since the 11th century, but on Jthe Ordinance of Medina del Campo (site of the great international fairs) made the real the unit of account, with the maravedí defined as a fraction of it (the 34th part). The monetary system of Spanish America, originally identical to that of Spain, soon diverged and took on a distinctive character of its own, which it passed on to the independent nations that followed after.ġ480–1516 Ferdinand and Isabella 1497 Medina del Campo Īfter the Spanish kingdoms were united under Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile and soon after the conquest of Granada, the Spanish monetary system was reformed. This great realm was divided into the Viceroyalty of New Spain (capital: Mexico City), which came to include all Spanish territory north of Panama, the West Indies, Venezuela, and the Philippines, and the Viceroyalty of Peru (capital: Lima), which included Panama and all Spanish territory in South America except Venezuela. This article provides an outline of the currency of Spanish America ( las Indias, the Indies) from Spanish colonization in the 15th century until Spanish American independencies in the 19th. ![]()
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