The peso (local name ''peso fuerte'') was a currency of

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

until 1874.

History

Until 1821, the Spanish colonial real circulated in Venezuela. Some of these coins were minted at the

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in th ...

Royal Mint (Spanish: ''Real Casa de Moneda de Caracas'') established in 1802. Coins minted in Caracas were called

Venezuelan real The real (plural: ''reales'') was the currency of Venezuela until 1843. History Until 1821, the Spanish colonial real circulated in Venezuela. On 12 June 1802, a mint was opened in Caracas and issued coins denominated in reales until 1821. Paper ...

es. On 27 August 1811, with the United States of Venezuela (''Estados Unidos de Venezuela'') having declared their independence, the recently established Supreme Congress of Venezuela (''Congreso Supremo de Venezuela'') establishes the peso with an equivalence of 8 reales to 1 peso and an initial issue of one million pesos in paper money. Since no lower denominations or metallic coins had been issued; foreign, low-value coins circulated alongside the peso in Venezuela. In particular, with the establishment of the

Colombian real The real was the currency of Colombia until 1837. No subdivisions of the real existed until after the real had ceased to be the primary unit of currency. However, 8 reales = 1 ''peso'' and 16 reales = 1 ''escudo''. History Until 1820, Colombia use ...

in 1820 came its circulation in Venezuela the following year. Indeed, as part of

Gran Colombia Gran Colombia (, "Great Colombia"), or Greater Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia ( Spanish: ''República de Colombia''), was a state that encompassed much of northern South America and part of southern Central America from 1819 to ...

, the Caracas mint would issue Colombian reales starting in 1821, which would continue to circulate even after Venezuela separated from Gran Colombia. On 28 March 1835, the Congress of Venezuela acknowledged these uses ''de jure'' and granted the

United States Penny The cent, the United States one-cent coin (symbol: ¢), often called the "penny", is a unit of currency equaling one one-hundredth of a United States dollar. It has been the lowest face-value physical unit of U.S. currency since the abolition ...

legal tender status within Venezuela. The Colombian real remained in use until 1837 (when it was replaced by the Colombian peso). On 29 March 1842, the Congress of Venezuela ordered the minting of 1, ½, and ¼ centavo coins, putting an end to the use of foreign coins for this purpose. To define the value of these smaller coins, the peso was subdivided into 10 ''reales'', each of 10 ''

centavo The centavo (Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese 'one hundredth') is a fractional monetary unit that represents one hundredth of a basic monetary unit in many countries around the world. The term comes from Latin ''centum ...

s'', following the suit of the Colombian currency. The coins would not be seen in circulation until the following year, for which reason they are generally referred to as the "1843 coins". All other denominations would be approved by Congress on 1 April 1854. The peso was substituted in 1871 by the venezolano, although it wouldn't enter circulation until 18 June 1874. Finally, in 1879, the bolívar was introduced.

Coins

In 1843, copper coins were introduced in denominations of ¼, ½ and 1 centavo. These were followed in 1858 by silver ½, 1, 2 and 5 reales. In 1863, silver 10-real (1-peso) coins were issued, although most were later melted.

Banknotes

In 1811, the ''Estados Unidos de Venezuela'' issued notes in denominations of 2 reales, 1, 2, 4, 5 and 10 pesos. In 1849, the Treasury issued notes for 5 pesos, which were followed by government issues for 5, 10, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 pesos from 1859. From 1860, notes for 8 reales and 20 pesos were issued.

References

External links

History of Venezuela Modern obsolete currencies 1874 disestablishments 19th-century economic history Currencies of Venezuela {{Venezuela-stub