This publication has been compiled from the following works:
Dr. Luis Cuadra Cea, "Historical Aspects of the Money of Nicaragua";
Guillermo de la Rocha "A Short Essay about Nicaragua"; and Dr.
Ildefonso Palma Martinez "Money and Banks of Nicaragua." This helps
in putting into the hands of the reader a short historical report of
numismatics in our country, which goes all the way back to our
Pre-Colombian past with the cacao bean and proceeded to the exotic
and varied gamut of Spanish numismatics that sustained the economic
life of colonial Nicaragua for centuries until reaching the
"Cordoba" with its three chapters of history: the Cordoba from its
appearance in 1979; the Cordoba in the decade of the 80's, and the
gold-based Cordoba in the context of the Governmental Program for
National Salvation as a redefinition of the economic strategy of the
nation for its reentry into the world economic system which aims
towards the 21st century and to the future generations.
"Money, like very many things and institutions, is the product
of the imagination of man."
Notations about our first money: the Cacao
Bean
When the Spanish conquerers could not even imagine the
existance of a "New World," which was in reality a "Mature World"
full of knowledge and imagination, our Indian ancestors used cacao
bean as a means of exchange in the buying-selling of necessary
articles for their subsistence.
The cacao bean, according to the chronicler Oviedo y Valdes, was
brought to Nicaragua by the Niquiranos. It was at first the monetary
system monopolized by the chiefs and nobles and to such an extreme
that as a food in the form of chocolate, or as one of the
ingredients in the national drink, "el tiste," it was prohibited to
the common people due to its high cost and the difficulty of
obtaining it.
This Pre-Colombian monopoly disappeared due to the effects of
the Spanish conquest, and the use of this product spread out to all
social classes, especially among the Spanish who highly regarded it.
It continued as money between the conquistadors and the conquered
ones (the Indians), even in the smallest and less useful quantities
for consumption because the special demand that it had for food had
superior qualities.
At the time of Spanish colonization, 160 grams of cacao was
given for a silver real coin. It is also known that in the 18th
century Indians used to give 200 almendras (a measure of weight) of
cacao for a silver real. This information was available because in
this century cash was lacking in several Central American provinces
so it was impossible to collect taxes because only the cacao bean
circulated; this was a situation extended well into the 18th
century.
During the National War against the filibusters of William
Walker (1855-1857), the price of cacao rose so much because of the
destruction of its cultivation that ten grams of cacao equaled a
silver real or ten cents.
Its circulation as money was prohibited in Nicaragua by
Executive Decree dated March 29, 1869, in which that product was
designated with the popular name of "moneda chilacate" and moneda
curra." Nevertheless, it was impossible to avoid its circulation due
to the lack of minted money even when in 1840 the circulation of
one-cent coins made in the United States had already
begun.
Assimulation with Spanish Money
After the discovery and conquest of the area, civil life and
colonial administration began. At this time the Indians became
acquinted with Spanish coinage but because it was very scarce at
first, Mexican businessmen started the manufacturer of small disks
of gold or silver. They were marked with the weight of the ducat or,
in other words, the "piece of eight." As these coins lacked the
necessary metallic pureness, they were counterfeited very quickly.
Both legitimate as well as counterfeit coins were called "pesos,"
and because of their equal weight with the ducat, they became
extensively known with the name "peso" which eventually became the
monetary unit of the American republics.
Because the Spaniards continued to occupy American territory,
they adopted their coinage, which served as transactions between
them. The base was first the maravedi; then the real; the
castellano; the ducate; and lastly the dubloon
(doblon).
The Founding of the First Mint in
Mexico
By royal decree on May 11, 1535, the first mint was created in
Mexico City, and the first "Carolus et Johanna" coins in the form of
a quarter, half, one, two, and three reales were minted in
1536.
In order to provide the means of exchange for the growing
needs of these countries, Spain besides establishing the mint,
prohibited business transactions from using gold dust, slabs, or
ingots and ordered them to substitute with coins like the "toston"
which was a "Carolus et Johanna" coin worth four reales and was made
popular at that time.
In Nicaragua there are abundant documents dealing with the
buying of land and state lands in the 16th, 17th, 18th, and even
19th centuries. These documents expressed their values in
"tostones." This coin was round and of an irregular weight with a
smooth edge. On the front side it had the coat of arms of Castilla
and Leon with the crown in the upper part and below the inscription
"Carolus et Johanna Reyes Hispanorum et Indorium." On the reverse
were an allegory of two columns, each one with the royal crown and
the insignia of the King "Plus Ultra."
With the first issue of American coins of the "Spanish Court,"
the massive production began of coins that were called "Macuquinas"
or "Macacos" that signified ugly or deformed. The counterfeiting of
this coin continued, and as a result its circulation was prohibited
by means of a royal decree dated October 1, 1650, which ordered the
coins to be collected and sent to the peninsula for reminting as
money of good law (genuine currency). In 1663 the royal government
prohibited the circulation of two reales coins (las macuquinas), and
the entire population had to resort to the primitive system of
barter. This situation was made worse by the Royal Providence in
1678 when it ordered that not only the two real coin but also the
one real should be sent to Mexico in order to be substituted by
others. As a consequence of this, in 1680 the talon-cacao flourished
in all parts of Central America.
The Founding of the Guatemalan Mint
On September 20, 1714, the President of the Royal Audience,
Don Toribio Cosio, convened a session of nobles with the purpose of
proposing to his Majesty, Philip V, the creation of a Guatemalan
mint. This concession was granted in 1731, but it was not until 1773
that the first five doubloon to sixteen escudos coin was minted.
These coins have on the front side the bust of Philip V and on the
border RHILIPVS V. DEI GRATIA HISTPANIARVM ET INDIA VM ET REX, and
on the reverse the coat of arms of the Kings of Spain.
By an order dated June 9, 1728, the colonies were permited to
mint the "macuquinas" which were coins hammered out of a ribbon of
silver and then cut in square pieces. This coin did not have
milling, or a border, and for having been displaced by circular
coins previously circulated, it remained only for the use of the
Indians who paid tribute with them. This coin was counterfeited
frequently since they were cut by the master silversmiths. The king
wished to remediate this situation so that only circular money would
be minted, but even this shape ws the object of irregular cuts for
which it has been called cut coinage.
By a royal decree dated 1751, it was ordered that Guatemala
only mint circular money known with the name of "columnaria" which
was a name derived from the two pillars of Hercules that appeared on
these coins.
Independence of Central America - First Coins of
the
Federal Republic
It was during the reign of Fernando VII that one of the most
important political evens of our history came to be, September 15,
1821: Independence. The Act of Independence in one of its
proclamations accorded the issue of a commemorative coin whose front
side appeared a woman who symbolized History and on the reverse
side, among other allegories, the legend: "Liberty offers us peace,
but never servitude."
From the independence of the Spanish King, we were dependent on
the Mexican regime of Iturbide, a period of time in which extremely
interesting imperial coins for Central American numismatics were
minted in Guatemala and Honduras. On July 1, 1824, the Federal
Republic with the name of "United Provinces of Central America was
proclaimed. It was ready to reinstate the mint in Guatemala with a
new monetary period with the coins of the Federation. "The most
beautiful and significant of all that were minted in America."
On March 19, 1824, the Constituent National Assembly passed a
Legislative Decree for the issue of the first numismatic specimen of
the Central American Republic whose first proclamation prohibited
them from minting of coins "with the bust, coat of arms, or any
other emblem that may be characteristic and distinctive of the
Spanish monarchy."
The decree in question stipulates that on the front of the new
coin "will appear a chain of five mountains and to the right the sun
that is just starting to rise," as a symbol of the beginning of
complete emancipation. On the reverse it stipulates that "a tree
with legend "May it grow free and abundant" that appears on the
first republican coins represents the ceiba, which is a
sacred tree of Indian theology, dedicated to the god Quetzalcoatl.
It supports the Four Corners of the world with its foliage of power
and of Indian science.
When the integral countries of the Central American Republic
decided on their own to become independent in 1839, some of them
began the issue of coins called "provisionales" which had the same
characteristics as the Central American
coinage.
Bibliography
Cuadra Cea, Luis. Aspectos historicos de la moneda en
Nicaragua. Managua, Banco Central de Nicaragua, 2v., empastados en
un solo tomo, ilus.
Palma Martinex, Ildefonso, Moneda y Bancos en Nicaragua.
Managua, Imprenta Nacional, 1975, 84p.
Racha, Guillermo de la. Breve ensayo sobre la Numismatica.
Nicaragua (En Cuadernos Universitarios, Segunda Serie, No. 18,
Septiembre de 1976, p. 93-117).
Source: Website of
Banco Central
de Nicaragua.
Translated from Spanish by
James S. Cameron
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