History

Until 1821, the Spanish colonial real

Spanish colonial real

The silver real was the currency of the Spanish colonies in the Americas and the Philippines. In the seventeenth century the silver real was established at two billon reals or sixty-eight Spanish maravedís. Gold escudos were also issued...

 circulated in Venezuela. Between 1802 and 1821, the Caracas

Caracas

Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...

 mint issued reales

Venezuelan real

-History:Until 1821, the Spanish colonial real circulated in Venezuela. In 1802, a mint was opened in Caracas and issued coins denominated in reales until 1821. Paper money was introduced in 1811 denominated in reales and pesos. The Colombian real circulated in Venezuela from 1821, with some coins...

. In 1811, the United States of Venezuela (Estados Unidos de Venezuela) was declared and issued paper money denominated in reales and pesos, with 8 reales = 1 peso. The Colombian real

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:...

 circulated in Venezuela from 1821, with some coins struck in Caracas. In 1837, the Colombian real was replaced by the Colombian peso

Colombian peso

The peso is the currency of Colombia. Its ISO 4217 code is COP and it is also informally abbreviated as COL$. However, the official peso symbol is $. As 20 July 2011, the exchange rate of the Colombian peso is 1750 Colombian pesos to 1 U.S. dollar.-History:The peso has been the currency of Colombia...

. In 1843, Venezuela introduced its own currency, the peso, equal to the Colombian currency. It was subdivided into 10 reales, each of 10 centavo

Centavo

Centavo is a Spanish and Portuguese word, derived from the Latin centum, meaning "one hundred", and the suffix -avo, meaning "portion" or "fraction"...

s. The peso was replaced in 1874 by the venezolano

Venezuelan venezolano

The venezolano was the currency of Venezuela between 1872 and 1879. It was divided into 100 centavos, although the names céntimo and centésimo were also used. Venezolano was also the name of two currencies planned in 1854 and 1865 .-History:The monetary law of 11 May 1871 replaced the peso with the...

at par.

Coins

1 Peso or 10 reales

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.