João de Barros portugal's first historian

This is the 1997, 500 escudo note from Portugal. It features the historian, João de Barros on the front and a representation of the Portuguese discoveries on the reverse.

João de Barros is known for his history of the Portuguese in Asia and Africa.

more Portuguese notes HERE and HERE

PORTUGAL 50 ESCUDOS NOTE

This is the 1968 Portuguese 50 escudos note . the front has Infante dona maria on the front and the city of Sintra as it was in 1507 on the reverse.

Infante  is the title given to the son or daughter of the king or queen of Portugal and Spain with the exception of the heir apparent. Infanta is sometmes used for the spouse of an infante.

more Portuguese   note HERE

TIMOR

Timor is an island in South East Asia and is in fact two nations - the west of the island was a Dutch colony until 1950 when it was ceded to Indonesia. The east of the island was a Portuguese Colony until it became an independent state called the Peoples Republic of East Timor in 1975. one year later it was invaded by Indonesia which occupied it until the UN agreed to self determination in 1999 and, after Indonesia pulling out, became the first new State of the 21st century in 2002. it is now called The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste.

Monetary unit:

1 Pataca = 100 Avos to 1958
1 Escudo = 100 centavos 1958-75
1 US dollar = 100 cents 2002  onwards


 The note above is the 100 Escudo note from 1963 with Regulo D Aleixo on the front and the coat of arms on the back.

PORTUGUESE GUINEA

Portuguese Guinea was a west African colony of Portugal up until 1974 when it became independent and changed its name to Guinea-Bissau. The capital city is Bissau.

monetary units:
1 Escudo = 100 centavos (1910-1974)

The Notes above are the 1971 issue of the 100 and 50 escudos. Both notes have  Nuno Tristao on the front right and a woman watching ships through the ages on the reverse

PORTUGAL

The Portuguese Republic, more commonly known as Portugal, is a southern European country with its capital as Lisbon. Portugal has had the longest period of a European country  having a colonial empire which lasted almost 600 years.today Portugal is part of the Eurozone.

Monetary Unit
1 Escudo = 100 centavos up to 2001
1 Euro = 100 cents 2002 onward

The two notes above are both 20 Escudos but from different years.The first one is from 1954 with Santo Antonio on the front and St Anthony's church in Lisbon on the back. This note doesn't seem to be in the reference books but it wasn't hard to to the research to find out who he was. The second note is from 1978 and has Admiral Gago Coutinho on the front with one of his aeroplanes on the reverse.

CHILE

The Republic Of Chile is a country that stretches from Peru all down the west coast of south america. It declared independence from Spain in 1810 but it was not ratified until 1818.  the Monetary system has changed quite a lot over the decades:

1 Peso + 100 Centavos
1 Condor = 100 Centavos
1 peso = 100 centavos
1 condor = 10 pesos ( up to 1960 )
1 Escudo = 100 Cantesimos ( 1960 - 1975)
1 peso = 100 "old " Escudos ( 1975 - onward )

 The two notes above are from the 1947 - 58 issue (ND) The blue one at the bottom is a 5 Pesos or a half (medio) condor which featured Bernardo O'Higgins, one of the founding fathers of Chile  A totally random thought just jumped into my head - why do we not have "founding Mothers" as well as fathers ??

The red note at the top is a 10 Peso or 1 Condor note this time having the portrait of Manuel Bulnes , two times president of Chile.

CAPE VERDE

The Republic of Cape Verde is a 14 island country off the African Atlantic coast. Initially inhabited by the Portuguese, the islands gained independence in 1975. historically the islands were involved with the re-provisioning of whalers and merchant ships crossing the Atlantic and also with the slave trade. It also briefly joined with Guinea Bissau.

This note is a 100 Escudos note from 1977, with musical instruments and Amilcar Cabral on the front and a mountain on the back with the warning "a lei pune o contrafactor" = the law punishes the infringer!!

ANGOLA

The Peoples Republic of Angola is a country in south west Africa bounded bay Zaire, Zambia and Namibia. In 1976 the notes were changed from escudos to Kwanzas. Angola has suffered from a civil war of 27 years which finished in 2002.

Unfortunately, the notes above are not a set as they come from 3 different years. first is the 50,000 Kwanzas from 1995, the front of all the notes have a picture of both Jose Eduardo dos Santos and Antonio Agostinho Neta . the reverse of the 50,000 Kwanza note has a picture of the telecommunications centre at Luanda .

Next is the 100 Kwanza note from 1991, with the reverse showing the rocks at Pungo Andongo and a tribal mask on the right.

The next 4 notes are a part set in that they all come from 1999. the 50 Kwanza has on the reverse an oil rig, while the 10 Kwanza has two antelope with their horns entwined (as if they are crooning an old song !!) . The 5 kwanza has a mountain and the 1 Kwanza has women picking cotton on the reverse.

A wee note here to say that an important aspect of the notes are the signature or signatures which change over time and can place a note in a particular time frame especially if the country is going through a turbulent time. If you click on the 1 and the 50,000 kwanza pics to enlarge them you will see that they are different signatures. this can be useful if the note's artwork doesn't change but the signature (and possibly the country's government) has changed.