South African pound
| South African pound | |
|---|---|
| Country: | South Africa |
| Subdivision: | 20 shillings = 240 pence |
| ISO 4217 code : | ZAP |
| Abbreviation: | £ |
|
Exchange rate : (fixed) |
1 ZAP = 2 ZAR |
The South African pound ( ISO-4217 code ZAP) is a historical currency unit of South Africa that was in circulation from 1922 to 1961. It was divided into 20 shillings and 240 pence, respectively.
history
The pound sterling became legal tender in the Cape Colony in 1825 . The neighboring Boer republics took over the pound , which was based on the gold standard , and from 1867 issued their own currency called the South African Pond . After the defeat of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State in the Second Boer War in 1902, the pound sterling also became a means of payment in the British colonies now known as the Transvaal and Orange Free State , which were united with the Cape Colony and the Colony of Natal in 1910 to form the South African Union . On June 30, 1921, the South African Reserve Bank was founded, making it the oldest central bank on the African continent. The bank began issuing banknotes for the South African pound on April 19, 1922, and the first coins followed in 1923. The South African pound also became a means of payment in the Mandate South West Africa and from 1932 also in Bechuanaland , Basutoland and Swaziland .
When Great Britain abandoned the gold standard in 1931, South Africa followed suit shortly thereafter. In the period that followed, the South African pound was part of the sterling block . With the conversion of South Africa into a republic after the referendum of 1960 , the changeover to the South African rand also took place . From February 14, 1961, 1 pound was exchanged for 2 rand.
Coins and banknotes
Coins were minted in the same denominations and sizes as the pound sterling coins, but the fineness of the silver coins is 0.800, in contrast to the only 0.500 fine British coins. The ¼, ½ and 1 penny coins are made of copper, the 3 and 6 pence coins, as well as the 1, 2 and 2½ shilling coins are made of silver and the ½ and 1 sovereign coins are made of gold .
Bank notes were issued in denominations of 10 shillings, 1, 5, 20 and 100 pounds. The 20 pound notes were no longer printed from 1933, whereas a 10 pound note was issued in 1943. Until 1948 the banknotes were bilingual in English and Afrikaans , after which there were two variants in each of the two languages for each denomination .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ History of the Central Bank of South Africa , accessed February 22, 2013
- ^ Johann van den Heever: External Use of the South African Rand . P. 48 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 1.1 MB)
- ^ Chris Becker: A short history of gold in the South African monetary system. Mises Institute South Africa
