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The Spanish dollar, also known as the piece of eight (Spanish: real de a ocho, dólar, peso duro, peso fuerte or peso), is a silver coin of approximately 38 mm (1.5 in) diameter worth eight Spanish reales.
For a more exhaustive discussion of countries using the U.S. dollar as official or customary currency, or using currencies which are pegged to the U.S. dollar, see International use of the U.S. dollar#Dollarization and fixed exchange rates and Currency substitution#US dollar. Countries using the U.S. dollar as their official currency include:
It is closely related to the dollars (Spanish dollar was used in the US until 1857) and euros used today. [clarification needed] Sri Lanka; the Ceylonese rixdollar was a currency used in British Ceylon in the early 19th Century. Rhodesia: the Rhodesian dollar replaced the Rhodesian pound in 1970 and it was used until Zimbabwe came into being in ...
Spanish dollar of Philip V of Spain, 1739. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the use of silver Spanish dollars or eight-real coins, also known as "pieces of eight", extended from the Spanish territories in the Americas westwards to Asia and eastwards to Europe. This then formed the first worldwide currency. [3]
In the US, the bit is equal to 12 + 1 ⁄ 2 ¢, a designation which dates from the colonial period, when the most common unit of currency used was the Spanish dollar, also known as "piece of eight", which was worth 8 Spanish silver reales. $ 1 ⁄ 8 or 1 silver real was 1 "bit". [1] [2]
This coin was known to English colonists in North America as a piece of eight, then later on as a Spanish dollar, Spanish milled dollar, and finally as a Mexican dollar. In French, it was called a piastre and in Portuguese, a pataca or patacão. The Spanish names at various times and in various places were real de a ocho, patacón, duro, or fuerte.
A currency symbol or currency sign is a graphic symbol used to denote a currency unit. Usually it is defined by a monetary authority, such as the national central bank for the currency concerned. A symbol may be positioned in various ways, according to national convention: before, between or after the numeric amounts: €2.50 , 2,50€ and 2 50 .
The dollar sign, also known as the peso sign, is a currency symbol consisting of a capital S crossed with one or two vertical strokes ($ or depending on typeface), used to indicate the unit of various currencies around the world, including most currencies denominated "dollar" or "peso".