Have you ever wondered where the dollar sign comes from? Well, it is Spanish and it comes from the 17th century, when Spanish coins were a very important part of world trade, and they were spread throughout the United States due to the restrictive monetary policy of the British Empire on its colonies.
Many Americans think that the symbol $ (in the classic typography with two bars) comes from a union of the abbreviation US (United States). Nothing could be further from the truth. Although there are several theories, the most plausible is Spanish origin. The sign began to be used in the commercial correspondence between the British colonists and Mexico referring to the Hispanic-Mexican or real peso of 8. This currency received in the North American colonies the name of Spanish dollar and in 1785 it was adopted as the official currency of the United Statesboth the name and the symbol $, due to the shortage of currency caused by the War of Independence against the British Empire.
Later, in 1792, the United States Mint created the American dollar but it was much less popular than the Spanish dollar as it was heavier and had better silver. And the Spanish dollar was finally outlawed in 1857, when it had the same theoretical value as the US dollar. But his influence was evident, for example, on Wall Street, where the price of shares on the stock market was measured in eighths of a dollar, since the 8 real or Spanish dollar had the value of 8 reais. And this denomination lasted until 1997.
And where does the symbol come from?
Well, it seems that it comes from the coat of arms that Fernando de Aragón established, the S as a representation of the motto “Non Plus Ultra” and the two bars that cross it symbolizing the two pillars of hercules. This symbol was used in the real de a 8, the currency that was used in the American colonies of the Spanish Empire, which later spread to the British colonies and later to the United States and Canada.
When Ferdinand of Aragon placed Gibraltar under Spanish control, he decided to adopt the symbol of the Pillars of Hercules, where in ancient Greece the world was supposed to end. Precisely from there the phrase “Non Plus Ultra” (not beyond), an expression that the classical hero had written on the columns that marked the end of the known world at its western Mediterranean end, erected by him in Gibraltar and Ceuta, according to mythology. greek classical.
However, it was not until Charles V, once the empire was consolidated, when the symbol, where Non Plus Ultra was already Plus Ultra (beyond) thanks to the Discovery of America, spread through his coins as a reflection of his possessions and his can. In the end, the merchants began to use this symbol instead of the word dollar in their documentsand there it remained.
Curious is also the origin of the name dollar. It comes from Bohemia, in the current Czech Republic, where the currency had the name “thaler”, which spread throughout Europe in the 16th century. And Thaler, in turn, is an abbreviation for Joachimsthaler, a type of coin from the city of Joachimsthal, in Bohemia.
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