Maltese scudo
The scudo is the official currency of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and was the currency of Malta during the rule of the Order over Malta, which ended in 1798. It is subdivided into each of 20 grani with 6 piccoli to the grano, it is pegged to the euro. The scudo was first minted in Rhodes in 1318. By 1500 the coins had the distinctive characteristics of a cross and the Order's and Grandmaster's coat of arms on one side, the head of St. John the Baptist on the other; the scudo was first minted in Malta during the reign of Piero de Ponte. The quality of the coins improved during the reign of António Manoel de Vilhena in the early 18th century. At some points in time, foreign coinage was allowed to circulate in Malta alongside the scudo; these included Venetian lire, Louis d'or and other currencies. During the French occupation of Malta in 1798, the French authorities melted down some of the silver from the island's churches and struck them into 15 and 30 tarì coins from the 1798 dies of Grandmaster Hompesch.
After the Maltese rebellion and silver ingots were stamped with a face value in grani, tarì and scudi and they circulated as coinage in Valletta and the surrounding area. The scudo continued to circulate on the island of Malta, which had become a British colony, along with some other currencies until they were all replaced by the pound in 1825, at a rate of 1 pound to 12 scudi using British coinage. Despite this, some scudi remained in use and the last coins were withdrawn from circulation and demonetized in November 1886. 1 scudo in 1886 had the spending power equivalent to £3.82 or €4.35 in 2011. The present-day Republic of Malta adopted the decimal Maltese lira in 1972, the euro in 2008; the SMOM, now based in Rome, has issued souvenir coins denominated in grani, tarì and scudi since 1961. The 1961 issues were minted in Rome, while mints in Paris and Arezzo were used in 1962 and 1963. From 1964 onwards coins were minted in the Order's own mint; the scudo is only intended to be recognised as legal tender within the Order itself.
The scudo was the currency used on the Order's stamps from 1961 to 2005, when the euro began to be used. Coins were issued in denominations of 1, 2 1⁄2, 5 and 10 grani, 1, 2, 4 and 6 tarì, 1, 1 1⁄4, 1 1⁄3, 2, 2 1⁄2, 5, 10 and 20 scudi; the 1, 2 1⁄2, 5 and 10 grani and 1 tarì were minted in copper, with the 2 1⁄2 grani denominated as 15 piccoli. The 2, 4 and 6 tarì, 1, 1 1⁄4, 1 1⁄3, 2 and 2 1⁄2 scudi were silver coins, with the 1 1⁄4, 1 1⁄3 and 2 1⁄2 scudi denominated as 15, 16 and 30 tarì; the 5, 10, 20 scudi coins were gold. Coins minted today include bronze 10 grani, silver 9 tarì, 1 and 2 scudi and gold 5 and 10 scudi. In 2011, a gold coin of António Manoel de Vilhena minted in 1725 sold for US$340,000
Euro
The euro is the official currency of 19 of the 28 member states of the European Union. This group of states is known as the eurozone or euro area, counts about 343 million citizens as of 2019; the euro is the second largest and second most traded currency in the foreign exchange market after the United States dollar. The euro is subdivided into 100 cents; the currency is used by the institutions of the European Union, by four European microstates that are not EU members, as well as unilaterally by Montenegro and Kosovo. Outside Europe, a number of special territories of EU members use the euro as their currency. Additionally, 240 million people worldwide as of 2018 use currencies pegged to the euro; the euro is the second largest reserve currency as well as the second most traded currency in the world after the United States dollar. As of August 2018, with more than €1.2 trillion in circulation, the euro has one of the highest combined values of banknotes and coins in circulation in the world, having surpassed the U.
S. dollar. The name euro was adopted on 16 December 1995 in Madrid; the euro was introduced to world financial markets as an accounting currency on 1 January 1999, replacing the former European Currency Unit at a ratio of 1:1. Physical euro coins and banknotes entered into circulation on 1 January 2002, making it the day-to-day operating currency of its original members, by March 2002 it had replaced the former currencies. While the euro dropped subsequently to US$0.83 within two years, it has traded above the U. S. dollar since the end of 2002, peaking at US$1.60 on 18 July 2008. In late 2009, the euro became immersed in the European sovereign-debt crisis, which led to the creation of the European Financial Stability Facility as well as other reforms aimed at stabilising and strengthening the currency; the euro is managed and administered by the Frankfurt-based European Central Bank and the Eurosystem. As an independent central bank, the ECB has sole authority to set monetary policy; the Eurosystem participates in the printing and distribution of notes and coins in all member states, the operation of the eurozone payment systems.
The 1992 Maastricht Treaty obliges most EU member states to adopt the euro upon meeting certain monetary and budgetary convergence criteria, although not all states have done so. The United Kingdom and Denmark negotiated exemptions, while Sweden turned down the euro in a 2003 referendum, has circumvented the obligation to adopt the euro by not meeting the monetary and budgetary requirements. All nations that have joined the EU since 1993 have pledged to adopt the euro in due course. Since 1 January 2002, the national central banks and the ECB have issued euro banknotes on a joint basis. Euro banknotes do not show. Eurosystem NCBs are required to accept euro banknotes put into circulation by other Eurosystem members and these banknotes are not repatriated; the ECB issues 8% of the total value of banknotes issued by the Eurosystem. In practice, the ECB's banknotes are put into circulation by the NCBs, thereby incurring matching liabilities vis-à-vis the ECB; these liabilities carry interest at the main refinancing rate of the ECB.
The other 92% of euro banknotes are issued by the NCBs in proportion to their respective shares of the ECB capital key, calculated using national share of European Union population and national share of EU GDP weighted. The euro is divided into 100 cents. In Community legislative acts the plural forms of euro and cent are spelled without the s, notwithstanding normal English usage. Otherwise, normal English plurals are sometimes used, with many local variations such as centime in France. All circulating coins have a common side showing the denomination or value, a map in the background. Due to the linguistic plurality in the European Union, the Latin alphabet version of euro is used and Arabic numerals. For the denominations except the 1-, 2- and 5-cent coins, the map only showed the 15 member states which were members when the euro was introduced. Beginning in 2007 or 2008 the old map is being replaced by a map of Europe showing countries outside the Union like Norway, Belarus, Russia or Turkey.
The 1-, 2- and 5-cent coins, keep their old design, showing a geographical map of Europe with the 15 member states of 2002 raised somewhat above the rest of the map. All common sides were designed by Luc Luycx; the coins have a national side showing an image chosen by the country that issued the coin. Euro coins from any member state may be used in any nation that has adopted the euro; the coins are issued in denominations of €2, €1, 50c, 20c, 10c, 5c, 2c, 1c. To avoid the use of the two smallest coins, some cash transactions are rounded to the nearest five cents in the Netherlands and Ireland and in Finland; this practice is discouraged by the Commission, as is the practice of certain shops of refusing to accept high-value euro notes. Commemorative coins with €2 face value have been issued with changes to the design of the national side of the coin; these include both issued coins, such as the €2 commemorative coin for the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome, nationally i
Sovereign Military Order of Malta
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta and known as the Order of Malta, is a Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military and noble nature. It is the continuation of the medieval Order of Saint John known as the Knights Hospitaller, under international law; as a chivalric order, it was founded c. 1099 by the Blessed Gerard in medieval Jerusalem. As a subject of international law, it is an establishment of the 19th century, recognized at the Congress of Verona of 1822, since 1834 headquartered in Palazzo Malta in Rome; the order is led by Grand Master. Its motto is obsequium pauperum; the order venerates the Virgin Mary as its patroness, under the title of Our Lady of Mount Philermos. The headquarters of the Order of Saint John had been located in Malta from 1530 until 1798, it was technically a vassal of the Kingdom of Sicily, holding Malta in exchange for a nominal fee, but declared independence in 1753.
It was expelled from Malta under the French occupation in 1798 and, from 1805 to 1812, much of its possessions in Protestant Europe were confiscated, resulting in the fragmentation of the order into a number of Protestant branches, since 1961 united under the umbrella of the Alliance of the Orders of Saint John of Jerusalem. The Congress of Vienna of 1815 confirmed the loss of Malta, but the Congress of Verona in 1822 guaranteed the continued existence of the Catholic order as a sovereign entity; the seat of the order was moved to Ferrara in 1826 and to Rome in 1834, the interior of Palazzo Malta being considered extraterritorial sovereign territory of the order. The grand priories of Lombardy-Venetia and of Sicily were restored from 1839 to 1841; the office of Grand Master was restored by Pope Leo XIII in 1879, after a vacancy of 75 years, confirming Giovanni Battista Ceschi a Santa Croce as the first Grand Master of the restored Order of Malta. The Holy See was established as a subject of international law in the Lateran Treaty of 1929.
In the following decades, the connection between the Holy See and the Order of Malta was seen as so close as to call into question the actual sovereignty of the order as a separate entity. This has prompted constitutional changes on the part of the Order, which were implemented in 1997. Since the Order has been recognized as a sovereign subject of international law in its own right, it maintains diplomatic relations with 107 states, has permanent observer status at the United Nations, enters into treaties and issues its own passports and postage stamps. Its two headquarters buildings in Rome enjoy extraterritoriality, similar to embassies, it maintains embassies in other countries; the three principal officers are counted as citizens. The Order has 13,500 Knights and auxiliary members. A few dozen of these are professed religious; until the 1990s, the highest classes of membership, including officers, required proof of noble lineage. More a path was created for Knights and Dames of the lowest class to be specially elevated to the highest class, making them eligible for office in the order.
The order employs about 42,000 doctors, nurses and paramedics assisted by 80,000 volunteers in more than 120 countries, assisting children, handicapped and terminally ill people and lepers around the world without distinction of ethnicity or religion. Through its worldwide relief corps, Malteser International, the order aids victims of natural disasters and war. In several countries, including France and Ireland, local associations of the order are important providers of medical emergency services and training, its annual budget is on the order of 1.5 billion euros funded by European governments, the United Nations and the European Union and public donors. The order has a large number of local priories and associations around the world, but there exist a number of organizations with similar-sounding names that are unrelated, including numerous fraudulent orders seeking to capitalize on the name. In the ecclesiastical heraldry of the Catholic Church, the Order of Malta is one of only two orders whose insignia may be displayed in a clerical coat of arms.
The shield is surrounded with a silver rosary for professed knights, or for others the ribbon of their rank. Members may display the Maltese cross behind their shield instead of the ribbon. In order to protect its heritage against frauds, the order has registered 16 versions of its names and emblems in some 100 countries; the birth of the order dates back to around 1048. Merchants from the ancient Marine Republic of Amalfi obtained from the Caliph of Egypt the authorisation to build a church and hospital in Jerusalem, to care for pilgrims of any religious faith or race; the Order of St. John of Jerusalem–the monastic community that ran the hospital for the pilgrims in the Holy Land–became independent under the guidance of its founder, the religious brother Gerard. With the Papal bull Pie postulatio voluntatis dated 15 February 1113, Pope Paschal II approved the foundation of the Hospital and placed it under the aegis of the Holy See, granting it the right to elect its superiors without interference from other secular or religious authorities.
By virtue of the Papal Bull
Grand Harbour
The Grand Harbour known as the Port of Valletta, is a natural harbour on the island of Malta. It has been modified over the years with extensive docks and fortifications; the harbour mouth faces north east and is bounded to the north by Saint Elmo Point and further sheltered by an isolated breakwater and is bounded to the south by Ricasoli Point. Its north west shore is formed by the Sciberras peninsula, covered by the city of Valletta and its suburb Floriana; this peninsula divides Grand Harbour from a second parallel natural harbour, Marsamxett Harbour. The main waterway of Grand Harbour continues inland to Marsa; the southeastern shore of the harbour is formed by a number of inlets and headlands, principally Rinella Creek, Kalkara Creek, Dockyard Creek, French Creek, which are covered by Kalkara and the Three Cities: Cospicua and Senglea. The harbour has been described as Malta's greatest geographic asset. With its partner harbour of Marsamxett, Grand Harbour lies at the centre of rising ground.
Development has grown up all around the twin harbours and up the slopes so that the whole bowl is one large conurbation. Much of Malta's population lives within a three kilometer radius of Floriana; this is now one of the most densely populated areas in Europe. The harbours and the surrounding areas make up Malta's Northern and Southern Harbour Districts. Together, these districts contain 27 of 68 local councils, they have a population of 213,722 which make up over 47% of the total population of the Maltese islands. The Maltese islands have a long history due to its strategic location and natural harbours the Grand Harbour as well as Marsamxett; the Grand Harbour has in fact been used since prehistoric times. Megalithic remains have been found on the shores of the Grand Harbour; the Kordin Temples, the earliest of which date back to around 3700 BC, overlooked the harbour from Corradino Heights. Another megalithic structure existed underwater off Fort Saint Angelo, but this can no longer be seen.
Punic and Roman remains were found on the shores of the harbour. By the 12th and 13th centuries, the Castrum Maris had been built in, it might have been built instead of ancient buildings Phoenician or Roman temples, or an Arab fortress. In 1283, the Battle of Malta was fought at the entrance of the Grand Harbour. Aragonese forces captured 10 galleys; the Grand Harbour was the base for the Order of Saint John for 268 years, from 1530 to 1798. They settled in the city of Birgu and improved its fortifications, including rebuilding the Castrum Maris as Fort Saint Angelo. In July 1551, Barbary corsairs and Ottoman forces raided Malta, they landed at Marsamxett and marched upon the Grand Harbour, but did not attack as they found the town of Birgu too well fortified to attack. Although this attempt was unsuccessful, the Ottoman force managed to sack Gozo and conquer Tripoli within the same campaign. After the attack, Fort Saint Elmo and Fort Saint Michael were built to better protect the harbour in any future attacks.
The city of Senglea was founded soon afterwards. On in the 1550s, a tornado struck the Grand Harbour, killing 600 people and destroying a shipping armada; the area was the scene of much of the fighting in the Great Siege of Malta of 1565 when the Ottomans attempted to eject the Order of St John but were defeated. After the siege, the capital city of Valletta was built on the Sciberras peninsula on the north west shore of the harbour. Over the years, more fortifications and settlements were founded within the Grand Harbour, including Fort Ricasoli and the towns of Floriana and Cospicua. During the French occupation of Malta, the harbour area was blockaded by Maltese rebels on land and the Royal Navy at sea; the French capitulated in September 1800 and Malta became a British protectorate a colony. During the British colonial rule, the harbour became a strategic base for the Royal Navy and the base of the Mediterranean Fleet; the whole area was savagely bombed during the Second Siege of Malta during World War II, as the docks and military installations around the port became targets for Axis bombers.
However collateral damage wrecked much of Valletta and The Three Cities, caused large numbers of civilian casualties. Malta Dockyard is still active but with the departure of the British Military the harbour lost much of its military significance. A considerable part of Malta's commercial shipping is now handled by the new free port at Kalafrana, so the harbour is much quieter than it was in the first half of the 20th century; the Grand Harbour, the backdrop to Malta's history, is set to experience a regeneration as in September 2007, the Maltese Government unveiled 20 proposed projects that would revamp the area while respecting its historic value. The 20 proposals are these: A New Cruise Liner Terminal in Senglea Extending the Valletta Cruise Liner Terminal One promenade from Ricasoli all the way to Senglea New yacht marina in Kalkara Conversion of Sir Paul Boffa hospital into a hotel A new tourism and cultural sector A center for the audio-visual industry in Fort Ricasoli Restoration of Villa Bighi Super yachts along the Senglea waterfront Discontinuing the Cleaning of Tanks A Commercial Maritime Park Maritime institute Maritime services Closing down the Marsa Power Station Afforestation of the Rinella Valley Rinella Creek New maritime infrastructure in Kalkara The reorganisation of Xatt il-Mollijiet Extension of quay infrastructe in Coradino A Base for Towing Services in Xatt il-Knisja Fort Ricasoli Rinella Bay Bighi Kalkara Creek Marina Road, Kalkara Kalkara Strand, Kalkara Mandraġġ Strand, Birgu Fort St. Angelo Dockyard Creek or Cottonera
Mellieħa
Mellieħa is a large village or small town in the Northern Region of Malta. It has a population of 10,087 as of March 2014. Mellieħa is a tourist resort, popular for its sandy beaches and natural environment; the name Mellieħa is derived from the Semitic root m-l-ħ. This is derived from the ancient Punic-Roman salt pans which existed at Mellieħa Bay; the site of the salt pans is now occupied by the Għadira Nature Reserve. Mellieħa was first inhabited in during the Neolithic period. Several megalithic remains have been found, including the temple of Għajn Żejtuna, as well as several caves and tombs, in which tools and pottery fragments were found. During the Roman period, troglodytes began to live in the caves of Mellieħa's valleys; the cave settlements continued to exist during Byzantine rule, but were abandoned in the early medieval period. According to the Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul was shipwrecked in Malta in around 60 AD in the nearby St. Paul's Bay. According to local tradition, St. Luke, accompanying St. Paul, came across one of Mellieħa's caves and painted the figure of Our Lady on the rock face.
In 409 AD, the cave was consecrated as a church, it is now known as the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Mellieħa. Mellieħa was one of the first ten parishes of Malta, it still existed in 1436, but it was abandoned soon afterwards in the late 15th or early 16th century, since the north of Malta was no longer safe due to raids by Muslim corsairs. During the early years of Hospitaller rule in Malta, Mellieħa remained abandoned. In the late 16th century, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Mellieħa was rebuilt; the northern coast of Malta began to be fortified in the early 17th century. The first fortification to be built in Mellieħa was Saint Agatha's Tower, completed in 1649; this large tower was built on Marfa Ridge, overlooking Mellieħa Bay, with clear views over to Comino and Gozo. The smaller Għajn Ħadid Tower and Armier Tower were built in the limits of Mellieħa in 1658. A series of coastal batteries and entrenchments were built in Mellieħa in the 18th century. Several of these still survive, such as Mistra Battery, Vendôme Battery, Wied Musa Battery and Westreme Battery.
The Devil's Farmhouse found at Ta' Randa area is an example of Maltese farmhouses built in the 18th century. Mellieħa as it is today developed; the village became a parish once again in 1844, began to develop after the British encouraged people to settle in the area by giving leases to the population. The parish church was built in various stages between 1883 and 1930. A postal agency opened in Mellieħa in 1891. Just before World War II, Fort Campbell was built in Selmun, while Mellieħa Fort was built on top of Mellieħa Hill as a lookout post; the British built a number of pillboxes around the coastline of Mellieħa, for defensive purposes in case of an Italian or German invasion. Mellieħa has seen a lot of development since the end of the war; the Mellieħa Local Council was established by the Local Councils Act of 1993. The town of Mellieħa stands on a group of hills on the northwest coast of the main island of Malta. Mellieħa proper consists of the areas of Mellieħa Heights, Santa Maria Estate, il-Qortin, Ta' Pennellu, Ta' Masrija and Tal-Ibraġ.
The nearby villages of Manikata and Selmun fall under Mellieħa's jurisdiction. The town overlooks Mellieħa Bay, which includes the largest sandy beach in Malta. To the east of the town and bay, there is the Selmun peninsula, St Paul's Islands lie about 80 metres off the coast. Mistra Bay lies close to Selmun, this marks the boundary between Mellieħa and St. Paul's Bay; the large Marfa Peninsula lies to the north of Mellieħa. It includes several small bays, such as Armier Bay and Paradise Bay, as well as the harbour of Ċirkewwa, from which the Gozo ferry departs; the Marfa Ridge spans across a large part of the peninsula. To the south of Marfa Ridge, there are Anchor Bay and Popeye Village, Majjistral Nature and History Park, the hamlet of Manikata and Golden Bay; the boundary with Mġarr lies at Għajn Tuffieħa. Mellieħa is a popular tourist destination during the summer months, it is well known with the most well known being Għadira Bay and Golden Bay. Ċirkewwa is popular as a dive site, it includes the wrecks of MV Rozi and the P29 patrol boat.
In 2009, Mellieħa was awarded the title of European Destination of Excellence due to its sustainable initiatives. Dawret il-Mellieħa Triq Ġorġ Borg Olivier Triq il-Kbira Triq il-Marfa Triq il-Prajjiet Triq Louis Wettinger Triq San Pawl il-Baħar Mellieħa is twinned with the following towns: Adenau, Germany Ayia Napa, Cyprus Cavriglia, Italy Photos of views around Mellieha Mellieħa and its coastline from Golden Bay to Mistra Bay Mellieħa Local Council official web site Mellieħa.com - Commercial & Information site Mellieħa travel information
United States dollar
The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its territories per the United States Constitution since 1792. In practice, the dollar is divided into 100 smaller cent units, but is divided into 1000 mills for accounting; the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. Since the suspension in 1971 of convertibility of paper U. S. currency into any precious metal, the U. S. dollar is, de facto, fiat money. As it is the most used in international transactions, the U. S. dollar is the world's primary reserve currency. Several countries use it as their official currency, in many others it is the de facto currency. Besides the United States, it is used as the sole currency in two British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean: the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. A few countries use the Federal Reserve Notes for paper money, while still minting their own coins, or accept U. S. dollar coins. As of June 27, 2018, there are $1.67 trillion in circulation, of which $1.62 trillion is in Federal Reserve notes.
Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution provides that the Congress has the power "To coin money". Laws implementing this power are codified at 31 U. S. C. § 5112. Section 5112 prescribes the forms; these coins are both designated in Section 5112 as "legal tender" in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar; the pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 provides for the minting and issuance of other coins, which have values ranging from one cent to 100 dollars; these other coins are more described in Coins of the United States dollar. The Constitution provides that "a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time"; that provision of the Constitution is made specific by Section 331 of Title 31 of the United States Code. The sums of money reported in the "Statements" are being expressed in U. S. dollars. The U. S. dollar may therefore be described as the unit of account of the United States.
The word "dollar" is one of the words in the first paragraph of Section 9 of Article I of the Constitution. There, "dollars" is a reference to the Spanish milled dollar, a coin that had a monetary value of 8 Spanish units of currency, or reales. In 1792 the U. S. Congress passed a Coinage Act. Section 9 of that act authorized the production of various coins, including "DOLLARS OR UNITS—each to be of the value of a Spanish milled dollar as the same is now current, to contain three hundred and seventy-one grains and four sixteenth parts of a grain of pure, or four hundred and sixteen grains of standard silver". Section 20 of the act provided, "That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units... and that all accounts in the public offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation". In other words, this act designated the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States. Unlike the Spanish milled dollar, the U.
S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. In addition to the dollar the coinage act established monetary units of mill or one-thousandth of a dollar, cent or one-hundredth of a dollar, dime or one-tenth of a dollar, eagle or ten dollars, with prescribed weights and composition of gold, silver, or copper for each, it was proposed in the mid-1800s that one hundred dollars be known as a union, but no union coins were struck and only patterns for the $50 half union exist. However, only cents are in everyday use as divisions of the dollar. XX9 per gallon, e.g. $3.599, more written as $3.599⁄10. When issued in circulating form, denominations equal to or less than a dollar are emitted as U. S. coins while denominations equal to or greater than a dollar are emitted as Federal Reserve notes. Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the note form is more common. In the past, "paper money" was issued in denominations less than a dollar and gold coins were issued for circulation up to the value of $20.
The term eagle was used in the Coinage Act of 1792 for the denomination of ten dollars, subsequently was used in naming gold coins. Paper currency less than one dollar in denomination, known as "fractional currency", was sometimes pejoratively referred to as "shinplasters". In 1854, James Guthrie Secretary of the Treasury, proposed creating $100, $50 and $25 gold coins, which were referred to as a "Union", "Half Union", "Quarter Union", thus implying a denomination of 1 Union = $100. Today, USD notes are made from cotton fiber paper, unlike most common paper, made of wood fiber. U. S. coins are produced by the United States Mint. U. S. dollar banknotes are printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and, since 1914, have been issued by t
Shilling
The shilling is a unit of currency used in Austria, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, United States and other British Commonwealth countries. The shilling is used as a currency in four east African countries: Kenya, Tanzania and Somalia, it is the proposed currency that the east African community plans to introduce. The word shilling comes from old English "Scilling", a monetary term meaning twentieth of a pound, from the Proto-Germanic root skiljaną meaning'to separate, divide.' The word "Scilling" is mentioned in the earliest recorded Germanic law codes, those of Æthelberht of Kent. Slang terms for the old shilling coins include "bob" and "hog". While the derivation of "bob" is uncertain, John Camden Hotten in his 1864 Slang Dictionary says the original version was "bobstick" and speculates that it may be connected with Sir Robert Walpole. One abbreviation for shilling is s, it was represented by a solidus symbol, which may have stood for a long s or ſ, thus 1/9 would be one shilling and ninepence.
A price with no pence was sometimes written with a solidus and a dash: 11/–. The solidus symbol is still used for the Kenyan shilling, rather than sh. During the Great Recoinage of 1816, the mint was instructed to coin one troy pound of standard silver into 66 shillings, or its equivalent in other denominations; this set the weight of the shilling, its subsequent decimal replacement 5 new pence coin, at 87.2727 grains or 5.655 grams from 1816 until 1990, when a new smaller 5p coin was introduced. In the past, the English world has had various myths about the shilling. One myth was that it was deemed to be the value of a cow in a sheep elsewhere. A shilling was a coin used in England from the reign of Henry VII; the shilling continued in use after the Acts of Union of 1707 created a new United Kingdom from the Kingdoms of England and Scotland, under Article 16 of the Articles of Union, a common currency for the new United Kingdom was created. The term shilling was in use in Scotland from early medieval times.
The common currency created in 1707 by Article 16 of the Articles of Union continued in use until decimalisation in 1971. In the traditional pounds and pence system, there were 20 shillings per pound and 12 pence per shilling, thus there were 240 pence in a pound. Three coins denominated in multiple shillings were in circulation at this time, they were: two shillings, which adopted the value of 10 new pence at decimalisation. At decimalisation in 1971, the shilling coin was superseded by the new five-pence piece, of identical size and weight and had the same value, inherited the shilling's slang name of a bob. Shillings remained in circulation until the five pence coin was reduced in size in 1991. Between 1701 and the unification of the currencies in 1825, the Irish shilling was valued at 13 pence and known as the "black hog", as opposed to the 12-pence English shillings which were known as "white hogs". In the Irish Free State and Republic of Ireland the shilling coin was issued as scilling in Irish.
It was worth 1/20th of an Irish pound, was interchangeable at the same value to the British coin, which continued to be used in Northern Ireland. The coin featured a bull on the reverse side; the first minting, from 1928 until 1941, contained 75% silver, more than the equivalent British coin. The original Irish shilling coin ) was withdrawn from circulation on 1 January 1993, when a smaller five pence coin was introduced. Australian shillings, twenty of which made up one Australian pound, were first issued in 1910, with the Australian coat of arms on the reverse and King Edward VII on the face; the coat of arms design was retained through the reign of King George V until a new ram's head design was introduced for the coins of King George VI. This design continued until the last year of issue in 1963. In 1966, Australia's currency was decimalised and the shilling was replaced by a ten cent coin, where 10 shillings made up one Australian dollar; the slang term for a shilling coin in Australia was "deener".
The slang term for a shilling as currency unit was "bob", the same as in the United Kingdom. After 1966, shillings continued to circulate, as they were replaced by 10-cent coins of the same size and weight. New Zealand shillings, twenty of which made up one New Zealand pound, were first issued in 1933 and featured the image of a Maori warrior carrying a taiaha "in a warlike attitude" on the reverse. In 1967, New Zealand's currency was decimalised and the shilling was replaced by a ten cent coin of the same size and weight. Ten cent coins minted through the remainder of the 1960s included the legend "ONE SHILLING" on the reverse. Smaller 10-cent coins were introduced in 2006. Shillings were used in Malta, prior to decimalisation in 1972, had a face value of five Maltese cents. In British Ceylon, an shilling was equivalent to eight fanams. With the replacement of the rixdollar by the rupee in 1852, a shilling was deemed to be equivalent to half a rupee. On the decimalisation of the currency
Malta
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