Even before the Spaniards arrived on the Philippine islands, there was a distinctive civilization with which neighbors from mainland China, Thailand, the islands of Java and Borneo traded. Initially, trade was dominated by commodity exchange, which later gave way to settlements in cowrie shells. Somewhere in the 9th-12th centuries in the Philippines, when calculating, they began to use "piloncytos" - small gold balls with a nadchekan weighing up to 3 grams, as well as gold "barter rings."
Among all the variety of English colonies in the region, own coins were issued only for Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and New Guinea. The review presents coins issued in these colonies in the first half of the 20th century.
The first own coins for Straits Settlements with a date of 1845 went into circulation on June 1, 1847. These were denominations of ¼, ½ and 1 cent minted on copper blanks. The obverse of the coins depicts the profile of Queen Victoria, on the reverse the denomination and the legend EAST INDIA COMPANY (East India Company).
In the Ottoman period, Cyprus did not have its own money. The first coins were issued in 1879, a year after the start of the British occupation. These were bronze coins in denominations of ¼, ½ and 1 piastre.
In the XIX century , the Indian rupee dominated in East Africa, unlike other African territories, in which the thaler of Maria Theresa and the US dollar were widely used in calculations. The exchange rate was 1 thaler=2 rupees=1 dollar. The German East African Company (Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Gesellschaft), which was the successor to the German Colonization Society, received a license to issue coins for East Africa. The line of coins of the first issue of the 1890 model included a copper pesa (1/64 rupees), as well as silver ¼, ½, 1 and 2 rupees with the legend "Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Gesellschaft," issued by the Berlin Mint (A).
The review of coins of British India issued in the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century will be incomplete, if we do not mention the coins issued in the so-called "native principalities" - states on the territory of the Hindustan Peninsula, which were under the British protectorate, but formally were not part of British India. This review will be updated periodically with new sections.
The monetary reform of the Portuguese Republic of 1911, according to which a new monetary unit, the escudo, was introduced into circulation, also affected its colonial possessions. By decree of September 18, 1913, special banknotes were to be issued in the colonies of Cape Verde, Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Angola and Mozambique from January 1, 1914. Banknotes entered circulation in 1914, 1921, and the first coins in 1929.
Coins of French colonial possessions are a rather voluminous topic, so you can't do without a separate review. Historians distinguish between two periods - the First French Colonial Empire (1546-1809) and the Second French Colonial Empire (1814-1962). The transition between them is due to the loss of overseas territories: Louisiana, Haiti and Guiana.