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The guilder was the currency of
The first issue of coins from 1798 and 1799 were overstamps on Brazilian pecas. These were followed in 1808 by an issue which consisted of holed
British Guiana
British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana.
The first European to encounter Guiana was S ...
(initially known as Essequibo and Demerara
Demerara ( nl, Demerary, ) is a historical region in the Guianas, on the north coast of South America, now part of the country of Guyana. It was a colony of the Dutch West India Company between 1745 and 1792 and a colony of the Dutch state fro ...
) between 1796 and 1839.
History
The Guianan guilder replaced theDutch guilder
The guilder ( nl, gulden, ) or florin was the currency of the Netherlands from the 15th century until 2002, when it was replaced by the euro.
The Dutch name ''gulden'' was a Middle Dutch adjective meaning "golden", and reflects the fact that, wh ...
at par after the colonies were captured by the British from the Dutch. The guilder was initially subdivided into 20 ''Stuiver
The stuiver was a coin used in the Netherlands, worth Dutch Guilders ( 16 ''penning'' or 8 ''duit'', later 5 cents). It was also minted on the Lower Rhine region and the Dutch colonies. The word can still refer to the 5 euro cent coin, which ...
s'', in English stiver
The stuiver was a coin used in the Netherlands, worth Dutch Guilders ( 16 ''penning'' or 8 ''duit'', later 5 cents). It was also minted on the Lower Rhine region and the Dutch colonies. The word can still refer to the 5 euro cent coin, which ...
s. Brazilian peças (6,400 réis
The first official currency of Brazil was the real (pronounced ; pl. ''réis''), with the symbol Rs$. As the currency of the Portuguese empire, it was in use in Brazil from the earliest days of the colonial period, and remained in use until 1942 ...
gold coins), known locally as ''joes'', circulated at a value of 22 guilders. The exchange rate to the British pound
Sterling (abbreviation: stg; Other spelling styles, such as STG and Stg, are also seen. ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound ( sign: £) is the main unit of sterling, and t ...
was initially fixed at 1 pound = 12 guilders (1 guilder = 20 pence
A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is th ...
).
In 1836, the guilder was reduced in value to 16 pence and, in 1839, the British pound and British Guiana dollar replaced the guilder as the currency of British Guiana, at the rates of £1 = 15 guilders and $1 = guilders (thus £1 = $4.8; $1 = 4 s 2 d, or 50d).
Coins
The first issue of coins from 1798 and 1799 were overstamps on Brazilian pecas. These were followed in 1808 by an issue which consisted of holed Spanish dollar
The Spanish dollar, also known as the piece of eight ( es, Real de a ocho, , , or ), is a silver coin of approximately diameter worth eight Spanish reales. It was minted in the Spanish Empire following a monetary reform in 1497 with content ...
s, worth 3 guilders, and the plugs, worth 3 ''bits'' (equal to 15 stiver).
In 1809, regular coins were issued for Essequibo and Demerara in denominations of , , 1, 2 and 3 guilders, followed in 1813 by and 1 stiver coins and guilder coins from 1832.
1836 saw the introduction of a new series of coins denominated solely in guilders. This year also saw the first production of fourpenny coins by the British Royal Mint
The Royal Mint is the United Kingdom's oldest company and the official maker of British coins.
Operating under the legal name The Royal Mint Limited, it is a limited company that is wholly owned by His Majesty's Treasury and is under an exclus ...
for use in British Guiana (worth ¼ guilder) which did not bear any indication of where the coins were to circulate (they later also circulated in the UK). Twopenny coins (worth ⅛ guilder) were issued in the same way from 1838.
Banknotes
In the 1830s, the colonies issued paper money denominated in joes and guilders. There were notes of 1, 2, 3 and 10 joes (22, 44, 66 and 220 guilders). It wasn’t until 1916 that the Government of British Guiana begin issuing dollar-denominated banknotes. Banknotes produced specifically for British Guiana ceased in 1942, and were replaced by British West Indies dollars in 1951. In 1955, the British West Indies dollar was decimalized and issued in the name of the British Caribbean Territories, Eastern Group. In 1965, the East Caribbean dollar replaced the British West Indies dollar and circulated in British Guiana for a year until, following independence in 1966, the Guyanese dollar was introduced, replacing the East Caribbean dollar at par.See also
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:British Guianan Guilder Currencies of the British Empire Currencies of Guyana Modern obsolete currencies History of Guyana Economy of British Guiana