America

The island of Haiti was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492. In 1659, the French proclaimed the colony of San Domingo on part of the island. During the colonial period, no special coins were minted for the island. It was easier to use Spanish silver dollars (8 reais) of Mexican coinage, on which over-checks were applied in order to control the money supply and prevent counterfeiting. At the same time, coins of the metropolis circulated in parallel in the country and natural exchange was widely used, in which tobacco and sugar were used in the calculations.

Brazil is the largest state in South America and the only Portuguese-speaking one on the continent. In 1815, Brazil ceased to be a Portuguese colony and joined with it as an equal member in a short-lived state - the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarve.

In the pre-Hispanic period, peoples from the Mayan and Aztec tribes who inhabited the territories of modern Mexico used cocoa grains in mutual settlements. With the advent of the conquistadors, the local population gradually began to accustom to metal Spanish money. It is noteworthy that the circulation of cocoa grains as a means of calculation was preserved in certain regions of Mexico until the beginning of the 20th century with a ratio of 140 grains=1 real.