Iberian monetary system
Spain and Spanish America; Portugal and Brazil
Iberian monetary traditions followed distinct paths. The Spanish real and the Portuguese real, later expressed in réis, share a name but not a single value or the same sequence of reforms.
In the Spanish tradition, the peso is associated with the large silver denomination of eight reales, which also circulated in the Americas. The Spanish gold escudo belongs to the same monetary context, but its exchange ratio with the real changed over time. It should not be confused with the Portuguese escudo, introduced as a national unit in 1911.
System structure
As in the Carolingian system, it is important to distinguish coins actually minted from units used in accounting. In the Castilian tradition, the maravedí also served as a unit of account; real, peso and escudo should be described with their period, territory, metal and legal value relationship specified.
Large eight-real coins and gold escudos became established under the Spanish Habsburgs. Mints in the Americas and oceanic trade extended the circulation of the peso, while later national currencies sometimes retained the name with different values and systems.
Main nodes
Genealogical context
The map of monetary relationships highlights contacts and transformations rather than isolated branches. Iberian coinage was influenced by the Mediterranean and connected with Central Europe, including through the development of large silver coins.
Ancient and medieval antecedents
Different coinages succeeded and met one another in the Iberian Peninsula: ancient and Roman issues, Visigothic and Islamic coinages, and those of the Christian kingdoms. They do not form a single sequence of equivalent denominations.
Roman coins are one territorial antecedent; Visigothic gold issues mainly reused late-antique models. Dinar, dirham and maravedí belong to medieval contexts that must be distinguished by issuing authority, period and metal.
Comparison with Roman coinage helps trace the reuse of names and models, but does not prove that the peso or escudo descended directly from the denarius.
Historical connections
In summary
For Spain and Spanish America, the path links the real, peso and escudo. For Portugal and Brazil, the historical real/réis and their respective reforms must be followed separately.
The Portuguese and Brazilian branch
In Portugal, the réis system was replaced in 1911 by the escudo, at a rate of one thousand réis to one escudo. The later adoption of the euro belongs to Portuguese history.
In Brazil, réis continued after independence and were replaced by the cruzeiro in 1942. The real introduced in 1994 revived a historical name after several reforms; it is neither an uninterrupted continuation of the colonial real nor a descendant of the Portuguese escudo of 1911.
Source: Banco Central do Brasil: succession of currencies.
Source: Portuguese decree: introduction of the escudo.
Source: Banco de España: gold escudo and monetary ratios.
Source: Museo Casa de la Moneda: early modern period.