1.
Indian rupee
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The Indian rupee, is the official currency of the Republic of India. The rupee is subdivided into 100 paise, though as of 2011,25 paise is no more a legal tender, the issuance of the currency is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India. The Reserve Bank manages currency in India and derives its role in management on the basis of the Reserve Bank of India Act,1934. The rupee is named after the coin, rupiya, first issued by Sultan Sher Shah Suri in the 16th century. In 2010, a new symbol ₹, was officially adopted and it was derived from the combination of the Devanagari consonant र and the Latin capital letter R without its vertical bar. The parallel lines at the top are said to make an allusion to the tricolour Indian flag, the first series of coins with the new rupee symbol started in circulation on 8 July 2011. On 8 November 2016 the Government of India announced the demonetisation of ₹500 and ₹1000 banknotes with effect from midnight of the same day, a newly redesigned series of ₹500 banknote, in addition to a new denomination of ₹2000 banknote is in circulation since 10 November 2016. The new redesigned series is expected to be enlarged with banknotes in the denominations of ₹1000, ₹100. The word rupee was derived from the Sanskrit word रूप्यकम् or rupaya, the modern Indian rupee has a direct lineage from the rupiya, the silver coin, issued by Sher Shah Suri, continued by the Mughal rulers. Rūpa means to form or shape, example, Rūpyarūpa, rūpya — wrought silver, however, in the region of Bengal, the term taka has always been used to refer to currency. In the 14th century, Ibn Battuta noticed that people in the Bengal Sultanate referred to gold, today, the currency of Bangladesh is officially known as taka. The word taka in Bengali is also used generically to mean any money, currency. Thus, colloquially, a person speaking in Bengali may use taka to refer to money regardless of what currency it is denominated in, thus, in the states of West Bengal and Tripura the Indian rupee is officially known টাকা. Whereas, in the states of Assam and Odisha, the Indian rupee is known by names derived from the Sanskrit word ṭaṅka, টকা in Assamese. During his five-year rule from 1540 to 1545, Sultan Sher Shah Suri issued a coin of silver, weighing 178 grains, the silver coin remained in use during the Mughal period, Maratha era as well as in British India. Among the earliest issues of paper rupees include, the Bank of Hindustan, the General Bank of Bengal and Bihar, historically, the rupee was a silver coin. This had severe consequences in the century when the strongest economies in the world were on the gold standard. The discovery of large quantities of silver in the United States and several European colonies resulted in a decline in the value of relative to gold
2.
Indonesian rupiah
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The rupiah is the official currency of Indonesia. Issued and controlled by the Bank of Indonesia, the ISO4217 currency code for the Indonesian rupiah is IDR, the name rupiah is derived from the Hindustani word rupiya, ultimately from Sanskrit rupya. Informally, Indonesians also use the word perak in referring to rupiah, the rupiah is subdivided into 100 sen, although inflation has rendered all coins and banknotes denominated in sen obsolete. The Riau islands and the Indonesian half of New Guinea had their own variants of the rupiah in the past, the current rupiah consists of coins from 100 rupiah up to 1000 rupiah and banknotes of 1000 rupiah up to 100,000 rupiah. With US$1 worth 13,300 rupiah, the largest Indonesian banknote is therefore worth approximately US$7.52, there are presently two series of coins in circulation, aluminium, bronze and nickel coins dated between 1991 and 2010. These come in denominations of 50,100,200,500, the older series of coins has been gradually disappearing. Currently circulating Indonesian banknotes date from 2000,2001,2004,2005,2009,2010, the 1998–1999 notes have not been legal tender since 31 January 2008. Earlier notes are no longer legal tender, due to the lack of security features and association with the Suharto regime. The government initially announced that this would change, with a 2, 000-rupiah note to replace the 1, 000-rupiah, following the issuance of Presidential Decree No. However, the material is abaca fibre, which is naturally plentiful in Indonesia and is believed to increase the durability of the banknotes. The banknotes are heat-processed to create a type of pulp. The minimum security features visible to the eye are watermarks, electrotypes. Extra features may be included, such as holograms, Irisafe, iridescent stripes, clear windows, metameric windows, watermark and electrotype are made by controlling the gap of density of the fibres which create certain images for the banknotes. This is done to raise the quality of the notes. Security threads are inserted into the note so that horizontal and vertical lines are shown from top to bottom, the threads can be varied in the materials, size, colour and design. Intaglio printing is used for the numbers in the banknote, to help blind people recognise genuine notes. The rupiah has been subject to high inflation for most of its existence, various attempts have been made to maintain the value of the currency, but all were abandoned. In the period from October 1946 to March 1950 Indonesian currency had no international recognition and its value was determined on the black market
3.
Maldivian rufiyaa
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The Maldivian rufiyaa is the currency of the Maldives. The issuance of the currency is controlled by the Maldives Monetary Authority, the most commonly used symbols for the rufiyaa are MRF and Rf. The ISO4217 code for Maldivian rufiyaa is MVR, the rufiyaa is subdivided into 100 laari. The name rufiyaa is derived from the Sanskrit rupya. The midpoint of exchange rate is 12.85 rufiyaa per US dollar, the earliest form of currency used in the Maldives was cowry shells and historical accounts of travellers indicate that they were traded in this manner even during the 13th century. As late as 1344, Ibn Batuta observed that more than 40 ships loaded with cowry shells were exported each year, a single gold dinar was worth 400,000 shells. During the 17th and 18th centuries, lārin were imported and traded as currency and this form of currency was used in the Persian Gulf, India, Ceylon and the Far East during this time. Historians agree that this new form of currency was most probably exchanged for cowry shells, the first Sultan to imprint his own seal onto this currency was Ghaazee Mohamed Thakurufaanu Al Auzam. The seal was much broader than the wires hence it was barely legible, the first known of coins were introduced by Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar. Compared to the forms of money, these coins were much neater. The coins were minted in the city of Malé, a fact which it acknowledged on the reverse. The legend King of Land and Sea, Iskandhar the Great is found on the edge, after this period, gold coins replaced the existing silver ones during the reign of Sultan Hassan Nooruddin in 1787. He used two different qualities of gold in his coins, one was called Mohoree and the other Baimohoree, how this gold was obtained is uncertain. Throughout the nineteenth and early centuries, bronze coins were issued denominated in laari. Sultan Mohamed Imaadhudheen IV introduced what historians believe to be the first machine struck coins and his successor Sultan Mohamed Shamshudeen III made the last of these coins,1 and 4 laari denominations, which were struck in the United Kingdom by Heatons Mint, Birmingham, England in 1913. Following the end of coin production specifically for the Maldives, the Sultanate came to use the Ceylonese rupee and this was supplemented in 1947 by issues of banknotes denominated in rufiyaa, equal in value to the rupee. In 1960, coins denominated in laari, now worth one hundredth of the rufiyaa, were introduced, in 1960, Sultan Mohamed Fareed I ordered coins from the Royal Mint in England. The new issue consisted of denominations of 1,2,5,10,25 and 50 laari
4.
Mauritian rupee
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The Rupee is the currency of Mauritius. Several other currencies are also called rupee, in 1877, coins for 1,2,5,10 and 20 cents were introduced, with the lower three denominations in copper and the higher two in silver. Coin production ceased in 1899 and did not recommence until 1911, with silver coins not produced again until 1934, when ¼, ½ and 1 rupee coins were introduced. In 1947, cupro-nickel 10 cents were introduced, with cupro-nickel replacing silver in 1950.1000 In 1971 a new set of coins and this set has Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse and a range of heraldic motives on the reverse. Some of the designs for this set were designed by Christopher Ironside OBE including the 10 rupee,200 gold rupee and 250 gold rupee. In 1987, a new series of coins was introduced which, for the first time, did not feature the portrait of the monarch and this coinage consisted of copper-plated-steel 1 and 5 cents, nickel-plated-steel 20 cents and ½ rupee, and cupro-nickel 1 and 5 rupees. Cupro-nickel 10 rupees were introduced in 1997, coins currently in circulation are the 5 cents,20 cents, ½ rupee,1,5,10 and 20 rupees. Coins below 1 Rupee in value are generally regarded as supermarket small-change, the 1 cent coin has not been seen in circulation for many years, and the last series of 1 cent coins issued in 1987 are only seen as collectors items. In 2007, a bi-metallic 20-rupee coin was issued to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Bank of Mauritius, the first banknotes were issued by the government dated 1876 in denominations of 5,10 and 50 rupees. 1 rupee notes were added in 1919, in 1940, emergency issues were made of 25 and 50 cents and 1 rupee. In 1954,25 and 1000 rupees were introduced, the Bank of Mauritius was established in September 1967 as the nation’s central bank, and has been responsible for the issue of banknotes and coins since that time. The bank issued its first notes in 1967, comprising four denominations,5,10,25, over the years, some denominations were revised with new signatures of the Governor and Managing Director, but were otherwise unchanged. In 1985, the Bank of Mauritius issued a new set of banknotes of 5,10,20,50,100,200,500 and 1000 rupees. A close study of these banknotes reveals an interesting array of subsets which were printed by two banknote printing companies, the notes were also designed at different time periods as there are very few identical and consistent design features appearing on all the denominations. This issue lasted up to 1998, in 1998, The Bank of Mauritius made a new issue of banknotes consisting of 7 denominations, viz.25,50,100,200,500,1,000 and 2,000 rupees. These banknotes had a format and were all issued simultaneously in November 1998. All the banknotes of this issue were printed in England by Thomas de la Rue Limited and these banknotes were withdrawn from circulation in June 1999 following controversies. The Bank of Mauritius made its latest issue of banknotes, which is still current, each denomination bears a hand engraved portrait of a prominent Mauritian figure, which appears on the left
5.
Nepalese rupee
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The Nepalese rupee is the official currency of Nepal. The Nepalese rupee was introduced in 1932 and it replaced the Nepalese mohar at 2,1, Nepalese rupee is subdivided into 100 paisa. The issuance of the currency is controlled by the Nepal Rastra Bank, the Nepalese rupee is pegged to the Indian rupee at 1.6,1. The rupee was introduced in 1932, replacing the silver mohar at a rate of 2 mohar =1 rupee, at first, the rupee was called the mohru in Nepali. Its value was pegged to the Indian rupee in 1993 at a rate of 1.6 Nepalese rupees =1 Indian rupee. The early banknotes which were issued between 1945 and 1955 during the rule of King Tribhuvan were not put into circulation by a Central Bank which did not exist in Nepal at that time, the issuing authority was the treasury which had the name Sadar Muluki Khana. Therefore, the notes of king Tribhuvan were not signed by a bank governor, nepal’s early paper currency probably includes the only notes of the world which were signed by a high priest. These early notes were printed by the Indian Security Press in Nashik and do not have any security features, except for the water marks and the special paper on which they are printed. Starting with King Mahendra who succeeded to his father Tribhuvan in 1955, the signature of the governors of this institution is found on the banknotes which were issued after this date. Under King Mahendra the Nepalese Government became “His Majesty’s Government” and remained this way during the rule of Birendra and Gyanendra, the second series comprised for the first time notes of the high value of 500 and 1000 rupees. During King Birendra’s rule one can distinguish between two major series of banknotes. The first series features the king wearing military uniform while on the notes of the series the king is wearing the traditional Nepalese crown adorned with feathers of the bird of paradise. During this period regular banknotes of 2 and 20 rupees and special banknotes of 25 and 250 rupees were issued for the first time, the legends found on the last issues of Gyanendra revert to Nepal sarakar, thus omitting the reference to the king. In October 2007, a 500 rupee note was issued on which the portrait was replaced by Mt. Everest. This reflects the change from a kingdom to a republic which took place in May 2008 in Nepal. Further notes of 5,10,20,50,100 and 1000 rupees with Mt. Everest and without reference to the king in their legends followed in 2008. The first issues of the 500 and 1000 rupee notes were printed on paper which still had the kings crowned portrait as watermark in the window on the part of the face of the notes. It was decided to print a red Rhododendron flower on top of the watermark, on 17 September 1945, the government introduced notes for 5,10 and 100 rupees, with the name mohru used in Nepalese
6.
Pakistani rupee
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The Pakistani rupee is the currency of Pakistan. The issuance of the currency is controlled by the State Bank of Pakistan, the most commonly used symbol for the rupee is Rs, used on receipts when purchasing goods and services. In Pakistan, the rupee is also spelled as rupees, rupaya or rupaye, as standard in Pakistani English, large values of rupees are counted in terms of thousands, lakh and crore,1 Arab,1 Kharab. It is derived from the noun rūpa shape, likeness, image, rūpaya was used to denote the coin introduced by Sher Shah Suri during his reign from 1540 to 1545 CE. The Pakistani rupee was put into circulation in Pakistan after the dissolution of the British Raj in 1947, initially, Pakistan used British Indian coins and notes simply over-stamped with Pakistan. New coins and banknotes were issued in 1948, like the Indian rupee, it was originally divided into 16 annas, each of 4 pice or 12 pie. The currency was decimalised on 1 January 1961, with the rupee subdivided into 100 pice, however, coins denominated in paise have not been issued since 1994. = In 1948, coins were introduced in denominations of 1 pice, 1⁄2,1 and 2 annas, 1⁄4,1 pie coins were added in 1951. In 1961, coins for 1,5 and 10 pice were issued, followed later the year by 1 paisa,5 and 10 paise coins. In 1963,10 and 25 paise coins were introduced, followed by 2 paise the next year,1 rupee coins were reintroduced in 1979, followed by 2 rupees in 1998 and 5 rupees in 2002. 2 paise coins were last minted in 1976, with 1 paisa coins ceasing production in 1979, the 5,10,25 and 50 paise all ceased production in 1996. There are two variations of 2 rupee coins, most have clouds above the Badshahi Masjid but many dont, the one and two rupee coins were changed to aluminium in 2007. Paisa coins ceased to be legal tender in 2013, leaving Rs.1 coin as the legal tender.10 coin was introduced in circulation. Regular government issues commenced in 1948 in denominations of 1,5,10 and 100 rupees. The government continued to issue 1 rupee notes until the 1980s but other note issuing was taken over by the State Bank of Pakistan in 1953, only a few 2 rupees notes were issued. 50 rupees notes were added in 1957, with 2 rupees notes reintroduced in 1985, in 1986,500 rupees notes were introduced, followed by 1000 rupees the next year. 2 and 5 rupees notes were replaced by coins in 1998 and 2002,20 rupee notes were added in 2005, followed by 5000 rupees in 2006. Until 1971, Pakistani banknotes were bilingual, featuring Bengali translation of the Urdu text, all banknotes other than the 1 and 2 rupees feature a portrait of Muhammad Ali Jinnah on the obverse along with writing in Urdu
7.
Seychellois rupee
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The rupee is the currency of the Seychelles. It is subdivided into 100 cents, in the local Seychellois Creole language, it is called the roupi. The international currency code is SCR, the abbreviations SR and SRe are sometimes used. Several other currencies are also called rupee, in 1914, the government produced emergency issues of notes for 50 cents,1,5 and 10 rupees. Standard issue notes began to be issued in 1918, with notes for 50 cents and 1 rupee, the 50 cents and 1 rupee notes were issued until 1951 and phased out in favor of the coins. 20- and 100-rupee notes were first introduced in 1968, whilst the 5-rupee note was replaced by a coin in 1972, in 1976, the Seychelles Monetary Authority took over the issuance of paper money, issuing notes for 10,25,50 and 100 rupees. This series featured the first president of the Seychelles, James Mancham, in 1979, there was a redesign, featuring a more socialist and modernized theme reminiscent of the René regime. This series was issued by the Central Bank of Seychelles when it took over full responsibility in the same year. In 1989, a new series was introduced with better security features, in 1998, another more high-tech series was introduced with a more practical, ergonomic design. This series later saw an additional 500-rupee note first introduced in 2005, on June 7,2011, the Central Bank of Seychelles issued updated 50,100 and 500 rupees notes with improved security features. Each of the three banknotes has a holographic patch instead of a foil sailfish which currently appears on the notes, on the 50-rupee note, the silver holographic sailfish alternates between the number 50 and an image of the Aldabra rail, a flightless bird. On the 100-rupee note, the gold holographic sailfish alternates between the number 100 and an image of the Seychelles giant tortoise, on the 500-rupee note, the gold holographic sailfish alternates between the number 500 and an image of the Seychelles scops owl. The notes are also protected by De La Rue’s unique Gemini technology that fluoresces under ultraviolet light, the color schemes of the notes have been revised, with the notes being more green, red, and orange, respectively, than the notes currently in circulation. The new notes also carry the year of printing, as well as the signature of Pierre Laporte, existing notes remain legal tender and will be removed from circulation as they wear out. In December 2016, the Central Bank of Seychelles is set to issue a new series of banknotes to commemorate 40 years of Seychelles independence, the theme of this series is Seychelles Unique Biodiversity - the backbone of the economy
8.
Sri Lankan rupee
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The rupee is the currency of Sri Lanka, divided into 100 cents. It is issued by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, the abbreviation is generally Rs. but SLRs. is occasionally used to distinguish it from other currencies also called rupee. The British pound became Ceylons official money of account in 1825, replacing the Ceylonese rixdollar at a rate of 1 pound = 13 1⁄3 rixdollars, Treasury notes denominated in pounds were issued in 1827, replacing the earlier rixdollar notes. Rixdollar notes not presented for exchange were demonetized in June 1831, the Indian rupee was made Ceylons standard coin on 26 September 1836, and Ceylon reverted to the Indian currency area. Pound-denominated treasury notes continued to circulate after 1836, along with the rupee, the legal currency remained British silver and accounts were kept in pounds, shillings and pence. However, payments were made in rupees and annas at the par of 2 shillings per rupee. The Bank of Ceylon was the first private bank to issue banknotes on the island, the Indian rupee was formally established as the unlimited legal tender 18 June 1869. The rupee was decimalized 23 August 1871, thus, the rupee of 100 cents became Ceylons money of account and sole legal tender effective 1 January 1872, replacing British currency at a rate of 1 rupee =2 shillings 3 pence. In 1872, copper 1⁄4, 1⁄2,1 and 5 cents coins dated 1870 were introduced, followed in 1892 by silver 10,25 and 50 cents, production of the 1⁄4 cent ceased in 1904. The large, copper 5 cents coin was replaced in 1909 by a much smaller cupro-nickel coin which was square with rounded corners, in 1919, the fineness of silver used was reduced from.800 to.550. Between 1940 and 1944, a change in the coinage was carried out. Production of the 1⁄2 cent ceased in 1940, with bronze 1 cent introduced in 1942 with reduced weight, nickel-brass replaced cupro-nickel in the 5 cents in the same year and replaced silver in the 25 and 50 cents in 1943. In 1944, nickel-brass, scalloped shaped 2 and 10 cents coins were introduced, the scalloped 10 cents coin replaced the silver 10 cents coin. Later 2 cent coins issued in 1957 were the coins from this period to ever depict Queen Elizabeth II. Coins with the portrait of King George VI continued to be issued despite his death, in 1957, cupro-nickel 1 rupee coins and.925 silver 5 rupee coins commemorating 2500 years of Buddhism were issued. In 1963, a new coinage was introduced which omitted the British monarchs portrait, coins issued were aluminium 1 and 2 cents, nickel brass 5 and 10 cents and cupro-nickel 25 and 50 cents and 1 rupee. These coins had the shapes and sizes of the previous series but were composed of different materials. In 1976, commemorative seven-sided 2 rupee and ten-sided 5 rupee coins were introduced in limited numbers, in 1978, devaluation prompted aluminum to be the replacement of nickel-brass in the 5 and 10 cents, while shortly after 1 and 2 cents were discontinued
9.
Bhutan
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Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in Asia and the smallest state located entirely within the Himalaya mountain range. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it is bordered by China in the north, Bhutan lacks a border with nearby Nepal due to the Indian state of Sikkim and with Bangladesh due to the Indian states of West Bengal and Assam. Bhutan is geopolitically in South Asia and is the second least populous nation after the Maldives. Thimphu is its capital and largest city, while Phuntsholing is its financial center, the independence of Bhutan has endured for centuries and the territory was never colonized in its history. Situated on the ancient Silk Road between Tibet, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, the Bhutanese state developed a national identity based on Buddhism. Headed by a leader known as the Zhabdrung Rinpoche, the territory was composed of many fiefdoms. Following a civil war in the 19th century, the House of Wangchuck reunited the country, Bhutan fostered a strategic partnership with India during the rise of Chinese communism and has a disputed border with the Peoples Republic of China. The King of Bhutan is known as the Dragon King, Bhutan is also notable for pioneering the concept of gross national happiness. The countrys landscape ranges from subtropical plains in the south to the sub-alpine Himalayan mountains in the north. The highest mountain in Bhutan is the Gangkhar Puensum, which is also a candidate for the highest unclimbed mountain in the world. There is also diverse wildlife in Bhutan, in South Asia, Bhutan ranks first in economic freedom, ease of doing business and peace, second in per capita income and is the least corrupt country, as of 2016. However, Bhutan continues to be a least developed country, hydroelectricity accounts for the major share of its exports. The government is a parliamentary democracy, Bhutan maintains diplomatic relations with 52 countries and the European Union, but does not have formal ties with the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. It is a member of the United Nations, SAARC, BIMSTEC, the Royal Bhutan Army maintains extensive military relations with the Indian Armed Forces. The precise etymology of Bhutan is unknown, although it is likely to derive from the Tibetan endonym Bod used for Tibet. Traditionally, it is taken to be a transcription of the Sanskrit Bhoṭa-anta end of Tibet, since the 17th century the official name of Bhutan has been Druk yul and Bhutan only appears in English-language official correspondence. Names similar to Bhutan — including Bohtan, Buhtan, Bottanthis, Bottan, jean-Baptiste Taverniers 1676 Six Voyages is the first to record the name Boutan. However, in case, these seem to have been describing not modern Bhutan
10.
Nepal
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Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked central Himalayan country in South Asia. Nepal is divided into 7 provinces and 75 districts and 744 local units including 4 metropolises,13 sub-metropolises,246 municipal councils and 481 village and it has a population of 26.4 million and is the 93rd largest country by area. Bordering China in the north and India in the south, east, Nepal does not border Bangladesh, which is located within only 27 km of its southeastern tip. It neither borders Bhutan due to the Indian state of Sikkim being located in between, Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the worlds ten tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. Kathmandu is the capital and largest city. It is a nation with Nepali as the official language. The territory of Nepal has a history since the Neolithic age. The name Nepal is first recorded in texts from the Vedic Age, the era which founded Hinduism, in the middle of the first millennium BCE, Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, was born in southern Nepal. Parts of northern Nepal were intertwined with the culture of Tibet, the Kathmandu Valley in central Nepal became known as Nepal proper because of its complex urban civilization. It was the seat of the prosperous Newar confederacy known as Nepal Mandala, the Himalayan branch of the ancient Silk Road was dominated by the valleys traders. The cosmopolitan region developed distinct traditional art and architecture, by the 18th century, the Gorkha Kingdom achieved the unification of Nepal. The Shah dynasty established the Kingdom of Nepal and later formed an alliance with the British Empire, the country was never colonized but served as a buffer state between Imperial China and Colonial India. In the 20th century, Nepal ended its isolation and forged ties with regional powers. Parliamentary democracy was introduced in 1951, but was suspended by Nepalese monarchs in 1960 and 2005. The Nepalese Civil War resulted in the proclamation of a republic in 2008, modern Nepal is a federal secular parliamentary republic. Nepal is a nation, ranking 144th on the Human Development Index in 2016. The country struggles with the transition from a monarchy to a republic and it also suffers from high levels of hunger and poverty. Despite these challenges, Nepal is making progress, with the government declaring its commitment to elevate the nation from least developed country status by 2022
11.
Zimbabwe
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Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in southern Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the west and southwest, Zambia to the northwest, although it does not border Namibia, less than 200 metres of the Zambezi River separates it from that country. The capital and largest city is Harare, a country of roughly 13 million people, Zimbabwe has 16 official languages, with English, Shona, and Ndebele the most commonly used. Since the 11th century, present-day Zimbabwe has been the site of several organised states and kingdoms as well as a route for migration. The British South Africa Company of Cecil Rhodes first demarcated the present territory during the 1890s, in 1965, the conservative white minority government unilaterally declared independence as Rhodesia. Zimbabwe then rejoined the Commonwealth of Nations—which it withdrew from in 2003 and it is a member of the United Nations, the Southern African Development Community, the African Union, and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa. Robert Mugabe became Prime Minister of Zimbabwe in 1980, when his ZANU-PF party won the following the end of white minority rule. Under Mugabes authoritarian regime, the security apparatus has dominated the country. Mugabe has maintained the revolutionary socialist rhetoric from the Cold War era, the name Zimbabwe stems from a Shona term for Great Zimbabwe, an ancient ruined city in the countrys south-east whose remains are now a protected site. Two different theories address the origin of the word, many sources hold that Zimbabwe derives from dzimba-dza-mabwe, translated from the Karanga dialect of Shona as large houses of stone. The Karanga-speaking Shona people live around Great Zimbabwe in the province of Masvingo. Zimbabwe was formerly known as Southern Rhodesia, Rhodesia, and Zimbabwe Rhodesia, a further alternative, put forward by nationalists in Matabeleland, had been Matopos, referring to the Matopos Hills to the south of Bulawayo. In a 2001 interview, black nationalist Edson Zvobgo recalled that Mawema mentioned the name during a rally, and it caught hold. The black nationalist factions subsequently used the name the during the Second Chimurenga campaigns against the Rhodesian government during the Rhodesian Bush War of 1964-1979, major factions in this camp included the Zimbabwe African National Union, and the Zimbabwe African Peoples Union. Proto-Shona-speaking societies first emerged in the middle Limpopo valley in the 9th century before moving on to the Zimbabwean highlands, the Zimbabwean plateau eventually became the centre of subsequent Shona states, beginning around the 10th century. Around the early 10th century, trade developed with Arab merchants on the Indian Ocean coast, the main archaeological site uses a unique dry stone architecture. The Kingdom of Mapungubwe was the first in a series of sophisticated trade states developed in Zimbabwe by the time of the first European explorers from Portugal and they traded in gold, ivory, and copper for cloth and glass. From about 1300 until 1600, Mapungubwe was eclipsed by the Kingdom of Zimbabwe and this Shona state further refined and expanded upon Mapungubwes stone architecture, which survives to this day at the ruins of the kingdoms capital of Great Zimbabwe
12.
East Timor
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East Timor or Timor-Leste, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a sovereign state in Maritime Southeast Asia. It comprises the half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse. The countrys size is about 15,410 km2, nine days later, it was invaded and occupied by Indonesia and was declared Indonesias 27th province the following year. The Indonesian occupation of East Timor was characterised by a highly violent decades-long conflict between separatist groups and the Indonesian military, in 1999, following the United Nations-sponsored act of self-determination, Indonesia relinquished control of the territory. East Timor became the first new state of the 21st century on 20 May 2002 and joined the United Nations. In 2011, East Timor announced its intention to gain status in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations by applying to become its eleventh member. It is one of two predominantly Christian nations in Southeast Asia, the other being the Philippines. In Indonesian, the country is called Timor Timur, thus using the Portuguese name for the island followed by the word for east, the official names under the Constitution are Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste in English, República Democrática de Timor-Leste in Portuguese and Repúblika Demokrátika Timór-Leste in Tetum. Humans first settled in East Timor 42,000 years ago, descendants of at least three waves of migration are believed still to live in East Timor. The first is described by anthropologists as people of the Veddo-Australoid type, around 3000 BC, a second migration brought Melanesians. The earlier Veddo-Australoid peoples withdrew at this time to the mountainous interior, finally, proto-Malays arrived from south China and north Indochina. Hakka traders are among those descended from this final group, Timorese origin myths tell of ancestors that sailed around the eastern end of Timor arriving on land in the south. Some stories recount Timorese ancestors journeying from the Malay Peninsula or the Minangkabau highlands of Sumatra, austronesians migrated to Timor, and are thought to be associated with the development of agriculture on the island. Thirdly, Proto-Malays arrived from south China and north Indochina, before European colonialism, Timor was included in Chinese and Indian trading networks, and in the 14th century was an exporter of aromatic sandalwood, slaves, honey, and wax. It was the abundance of sandalwood in Timor that attracted European explorers to the island in the early 16th century. During that time, European explorers reported that the island had a number of small chiefdoms or princedoms, the Portuguese established outposts in Timor and Maluku. Effective European occupation of a part of the territory began in 1769, when the city of Dili was founded. For the Portuguese, East Timor remained little more than a trading post until the late nineteenth century, with minimal investment in infrastructure, health
13.
Currency
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A currency in the most specific use of the word refers to money in any form when in actual use or circulation as a medium of exchange, especially circulating banknotes and coins. A more general definition is that a currency is a system of money in common use, under this definition, US dollars, British pounds, Australian dollars, and European euros are examples of currency. These various currencies are recognized stores of value and are traded between nations in exchange markets, which determine the relative values of the different currencies. Currencies in this sense are defined by governments, and each type has limited boundaries of acceptance, other definitions of the term currency are discussed in their respective synonymous articles banknote, coin, and money. The latter definition, pertaining to the systems of nations, is the topic of this article. Currencies can be classified into two systems, fiat money and commodity money, depending on what guarantees the value. Some currencies are legal tender in certain jurisdictions, which means they cannot be refused as payment for debt. Others are simply traded for their economic value, digital currency has arisen with the popularity of computers and the Internet. Currency evolved from two basic innovations, both of which had occurred by 2000 BC, originally money was a form of receipt, representing grain stored in temple granaries in Sumer in ancient Mesopotamia, then Ancient Egypt. In this first stage of currency, metals were used as symbols to represent value stored in the form of commodities and this formed the basis of trade in the Fertile Crescent for over 1500 years. Trade could only reach as far as the credibility of that military and it is not known what was used as a currency for these exchanges, but it is thought that ox-hide shaped ingots of copper, produced in Cyprus, may have functioned as a currency. It is thought that the increase in piracy and raiding associated with the Bronze Age collapse, possibly produced by the Peoples of the Sea, brought the trading system of oxhide ingots to an end. In Africa, many forms of value store have been used, including beads, ingots, ivory, various forms of weapons, livestock, the manilla currency, the manilla rings of West Africa were one of the currencies used from the 15th century onwards to sell slaves. African currency is still notable for its variety, and in many various forms of barter still apply. These factors led to the metal itself being the store of value, first silver, now we have copper coins and other non-precious metals as coins. Metals were mined, weighed, and stamped into coins and this was to assure the individual taking the coin that he was getting a certain known weight of precious metal. Coins could be counterfeited, but they created a new unit of account. Most major economies using coinage had several tiers of coins, using a mix of copper, silver, gold coins were used for large purchases, payment of the military and backing of state activities, they were more often used as measures of account than physical coins
14.
Historical money of Tibet
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The use of historical money in Tibet started in ancient times, when Tibet had no coined currency of its own. Bartering was common, gold was a medium of exchange, and shell money, a few coins from other countries were also occasionally in use. Coins were first used in an extensive way in the 17th century. There were however various difficulties with this system, in 1763/64 and 1785 the first silver coins were struck in Tibet. In 1792 the first mass-produced silver coins were created under joint Chinese, coins bearing Tibetan inscriptions only were subsequently replaced by issues which had Chinese and Tibetan legends. In 1840 purely Tibetan coinage was struck under Tibetan authority, in 1910 the Tibetan government started producing a large range of copper and silver coins of different denominations, and in 1918 to 1921, gold coins were struck. Tibetan banknotes were first issued in 1913, from 1955 to 1959 no more Tibetan coins were created, although banknotes were still being printed, and by 1959 all of the money was gradually being replaced with renminbi yuan. In ancient Tibet, the use of coins was insignificant, tibet’s main neighbours, India, Nepal and China had had their own coinage since time immemorial. Tibet had the biggest trade volume with China, the main items being horses from north-eastern Tibet. Tibet also exported medicinal herbs, stag antlers, musk and gold to China, and apart from tea, the trade volume with Tibets southern neighbours, India, Nepal and Bhutan, was much smaller. The Tibetan traders mainly exchanged salt and wool for grain with these countries, traditionally one measure of salt was traded for one measure of grain at the border with Nepal and India. Other, less important export goods were yak tails, musk, for the 17th century, the export of falcons to India is also recorded. For large transactions within Tibet, gold dust and Chinese silver ingots were used and these ingots came in different shapes, the most common kind resembled horseshoes or donkey shoes, and were named rta rmig ma in Tibetan. For small transactions, various consumer goods could be used, among others, these were areca nuts, tobacco, ceremonial scarves and tea Tea was usually traded in the form of tea bricks. This developed into the most important medium of exchange in the 19th century, so far there exists no consent whether these pieces could be regarded as coins. The officials had to convert these into the current monetary standard, lastly a form of gold currency named Sertam is mentioned which had a gold weight of 2 sewas. Fifteen Sertam corresponded to one standard Changsho, the currency unit Gursho was already mentioned by Sarat Chandra Das in his Tibetan-English Dictionary. According to this author 1 Gursho =24 sewas, Chinese silver ingots were used until the 20th century for larger transactions
15.
Burmese rupee
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The rupee was the currency of Burma between 1852 and 1952, except for the years 1943-1945. When Burma was conquered by the British, the Indian rupee replaced the kyat at par, from 1897, the government of India issued notes in Rangoon of the same general type as were issued in India but featuring languages used in Burma rather than those of India. In 1917 and again from 1927, Indian notes were overprinted for use in Burma, when Burma became a separate colony in 1937, a separate issue of paper money was made for use only in Burma but no separate coinage was issued. When the Japanese invaded Burma in 1942, they introduced a new currency and this currency was only issued in paper form. The rupee was replaced by the kyat in 1943, in 1945, the Japanese occupation currency was declared worthless and Burma reverted to using Indian coinage and its own rupee paper money. Following independence in 1948, Burma introduced its own currency, consisting of coins. One rupee was divided into 16 pe, each of 4 pyas, the rupee was replaced by the kyat in 1952 at par. In 1949, coins were introduced in denominations of 2 pya,1,2,4 and 8 pe and they matched the size, shapes, and cupro-nickel composition of the Indian ½,1 and 2 annas and ¼ and ½ rupee. The reverse on all of these featured the chinthe, which is a mythical lion-dragon beast. Between 1897 and 1922, notes for 5,10 and 100 rupees were issued which differed from the Indian notes only in the languages used. In 1917, Indian 2½ rupees notes were overprinted for use in Burma, in 1937,5,10 and 100 rupees notes of the Reserve Bank of India were overprinted with the text Legal Tender in Burma Only. In 1938, the first regular issue of Burmese notes was made by the Reserve Bank of India, in 1942, the Japanese issued notes for 1,5 and 10 cents, ¼, ½,1,5,10 and 100 rupees. These were replaced in 1944 by notes issued in 1,5,10, in 1945, the Military Administration issued overprinted Indian notes for 1,5,10 and 100 rupees to replace the Japanese issued kyat notes. In 1947, the Burma Currency Board took over the issuance of paper money, following independence in 1948, the government issued notes for the same denominations. In 1953, the Union Bank of Burma issued a series of notes denominated in rupees
16.
East African rupee
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The rupee was the currency of Britains East African colonies and protectorates between 1906 and 1920. It was divided into 100 cents, the rupee replaced the Indian rupee, which had previously circulated. In 1920, the rupee was revalued against sterling to a peg of 1 rupee =2 shillings, in East Africa, this was followed in the same year by the replacement of the rupee with the East African florin at par. The currency is noteworthy for including the worlds first aluminium coin, silver coins were introduced for 25 and 50 cents in 1906, followed by aluminium 1 cent and cupro-nickel 10 cents in 1907, aluminium ½ cent in 1908 and cupro-nickel 5 cents in 1913. In 1906, notes were introduced by the government of the East Africa Protectorate in denominations of 5,10,20,40,100 and 500 rupees, in 1920, the East African currency Board issued 1 rupee notes shortly before the rupee was replaced. Global Financial Data currency histories table Tables of modern history, Kenya Tables of modern monetary history, Tanzania Tables of modern monetary history
17.
German East African rupie
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The Rupie was the currency of German East Africa between 1890 and 1916, continuing to circulate in the Tanganyika Territory until 1920. The German East Africa Company acquired rights to mint coinage in 1890 and issued rupies which were equivalent to the Indian, the Company retained its coinage rights even after the takeover of German East Africa by the government later in 1890. In 1904 the German government took over currency matters and established the Ostafrikanische Bank, the Rupie was initially equivalent to the Indian rupee. Until 1904, it was subdivided into 64 Pesa, the currency was decimalized on 28 February 1904, with 1 Rupie =100 Heller. At the same time, an exchange rate of 15 Rupien =20 German Mark was established. In 1915 and 1916 in the period of fighting in East Africa during World War I a large series of issues of paper money were issued. 1916 also saw an issue of coins to pay German led troops. Later in 1916 German East Africa was occupied by British and Belgian forces, in Tanganyika, the Rupie circulated alongside the East African rupee until 1920, when both were replaced by the East African florin at par. In Burundi and Rwanda, the Belgian Congolese franc replaced the Rupie in 1916, in 1890, copper 1 Pesa and silver 1 and 2 Rupie coins were introduced, followed the next year by silver ¼ and ½ Rupie and in 1893 by silver 2 Rupien coins. The silver coins were minted to the standard as the Indian rupee. As a consequence of decimalization, bronze ½ and 1 Heller were introduced in 1904, followed by bronze 5 Heller and holed, in 1913, holed, cupro-nickel 5 Heller were introduced. The 1916 issues were minted at Tabora as an emergency coinage. A total of 302,940 brass 5 Heller were issued, in addition, both copper and brass 20 Heller coins were produced, a quantity that allows them to remain readily available for collectors. In addition 16,198 of the gold 15 Rupien mentioned above were produced, while the smaller valued coins were crudely struck, the gold pieces received fine detail. In 1905, the Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Bank introduced notes for 5,10,50, and 100 Rupien, between 1915 and 1917, World War I emergency issue notes were produced in denominations of 1,5,10,20,50 and 200 Rupien. Colonial German East Africa was cut off from Germany resulting from a wartime blockade, silver coinage was hoarded for its intrinsic value in commercial transactions, and the colonial government was pressured into creating interim banknotes. Previous issues of banknotes were produced by the German printing company Giesecke & Devrient, given the wartime supply shortages, the provisional notes were also printed on commercial paper, wrapping paper, and in one very rare instance, wall paper. The translated text of the states, Provisional Banknote
18.
Trucial States
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The Trucial States were a group of sheikhdoms in the south-eastern Persian Gulf, previously known to the British as the Pirate Coast, which were signatories to treaties with the British government. Six were to form the United Arab Emirates on that day and this was an unclear status which fell short of a formal protectorate, but required Britain to defend them from external aggression in exchange for exclusive British rights in the states. In 1952, the Trucial States Council was established to encourage co-operation between the seven Rulers, the first in a long series of maritime skirmishes between the Al Qasimi and British vessels took place in 1797, when the British-flagged Bassein Snow was seized and released two days later. The cruiser Viper was subsequently attacked off Bushire and this version has been particularly well articulated by Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, the current Ruler of Sharjah, in his 1986 book The Myth of Arab Piracy in the Gulf. The next year,1820, a treaty was signed to which all the sheikhs of the coast adhered. On 11 January 1820, again at Ras Al Khaimah, Shakhbut bin Diyab Al Nahyan signed on behalf of his son, Tahnoon, husain bin Ali of Rams signed on the 15th. The uncle of Muhammad bin Hazza of Dubai signed on the 28th in Sharjah, the Rulers of Ajman and Umm Al Qawain acceded to the full treaty on 15 March, signing on board the ship of the commander of the British expeditionary force, Sir William Grant-Keir. The treaty was signed, at Sharjah, by the emir of Bahrain. The Sheikh of Rams lost the support of his soon after. Separate treaties in 1847 and 1856 saw treaties undertaking the abolition of slave trading and, in 1873, the sheikhs agreed not to dispose of any territory except to the United Kingdom and not to enter into relationships with any foreign government other than the United Kingdom without its consent. In return, the British promised to protect the Trucial Coast from all aggression by sea and to help in case of land attack. This treaty, the Exclusive Agreement, was signed by the Rulers of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah and it was subsequently ratified by the Viceroy of India and the British Government in London. In 1968 the United Kingdom announced its intention to end its protectorate over the Trucial Coast, the other Trucial States had long been a British protectorate with the British taking care of foreign policy and defence, as well as arbitrating between the rulers of the Eastern Gulf. This changed with Harold Wilsons announcement, on 16 January 1968, the decision pitched the coastal emirates, together with Qatar and Bahrain, into fevered negotiations to fill the political vacuum that the British withdrawal would leave behind. The two agreed to work towards bringing the other emirates, including Qatar and Bahrain, into the union, over the next two years, negotiations and meetings of the rulers followed - often stormy - as a form of union was thrashed out. The nine-state union was never to recover from the October 1969 meeting where heavy-handed British intervention resulted in a walk-out by Qatar, Bahrain and Qatar were to drop out of talks, leaving only six emirates to agree on union on 18 July 1971. On 2 December 1971, Dubai, together with Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Qawain, the seventh emirate, Ras Al Khaimah, joined the UAE on 10 February 1972 following Irans seizure of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs from Ras Al Khaimah. Trucial Oman Scouts Qatar Digital Library - an online portal providing access to British Library archive materials relating to Gulf history and Arabic science
19.
Maldives
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The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, is a South Asian island country, located in the Indian Ocean, situated in the Arabian Sea. It lies southwest of India and Sri Lanka, the chain of twenty-six atolls stretches from Ihavandhippolhu Atoll in the north to the Addu City in the south. Malé is the capital and most populated city, traditionally called the Kings Island for its central location. With an average elevation of 1.5 metres above sea level, it is the worlds lowest country, with even its highest natural point being the lowest in the world. Due to the subsequent risks posed by rising sea-levels, the government pledged in 2009 to make the Maldives a carbon-neutral country by 2019, the Maldives have been historically and culturally linked to the Indian subcontinent since the fourth century BCE. The Maldivian archipelago was Islamised in the 12th century and consolidated as a sultanate, developing commercial and cultural ties with Asia. From the mid 16th-century, the region came under the influence of European colonial powers. Independence from the United Kingdom was achieved in 1965 and a republic was established in 1968 with an elected Peoples Majlis. The ensuing decades have been characterised by political instability, efforts at democratic reform, the Maldives is a founding member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. It is also a member of the United Nations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the World Bank classifies the Maldives as having an upper middle income economy. Fishing has historically been the dominant economic activity, and remains the largest sector by far, along with Sri Lanka, it is one of only two South Asian countries rated high on the Human Development Index, with its per capita income the highest among SAARC nations. The name Maldives may derive from the Malayalam words maala and dweepu or the Tamil maalai and theevu, the Maldivian people are called Dhivehin. The word theevu means island, and Dhives means islanders, the ancient Sri Lankan chronicle Mahawamsa refers to an island called Mahiladiva in Pali, which is probably a mistranslation of the same Sanskrit word meaning garland. Jan S Hogendorn, Grossman Professor of Economics, theorises that the name Maldives derives from the Sanskrit mālādvīpa, in Tamil, Garland of Islands can be translated as Malai Theevu. In Malayalam, Garland of Islands can be translated as Maladweepu, in Kannada, Garland of Islands can be translated as Maaledweepa. This is the name inscribed on the scroll in the Maldive state emblem. The classical Persian/Arabic name for Maldives is Dibajat, the Dutch referred to the islands as the Maldivische Eilanden, while the British anglicised the local name for the islands first to the Maldive Islands and later to Maldives. One such community are the Giraavaru people and they are mentioned in ancient legends and local folklore about the establishment of the capital and kingly rule in Malé
20.
Sanskrit
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Sanskrit is the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, a philosophical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and a literary language and lingua franca of ancient and medieval South Asia. As a result of transmission of Hindu and Buddhist culture to Southeast Asia and parts of Central Asia, as one of the oldest Indo-European languages for which substantial written documentation exists, Sanskrit holds a prominent position in Indo-European studies. The body of Sanskrit literature encompasses a rich tradition of poetry and drama as well as scientific, technical, philosophical, the compositions of Sanskrit were orally transmitted for much of its early history by methods of memorization of exceptional complexity, rigor, and fidelity. Thereafter, variants and derivatives of the Brahmi script came to be used, Sanskrit is today one of the 22 languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India, which mandates the Indian government to develop the language. It continues to be used as a ceremonial language in Hindu religious rituals and Buddhist practice in the form of hymns. The Sanskrit verbal adjective sáṃskṛta- may be translated as refined, elaborated, as a term for refined or elaborated speech, the adjective appears only in Epic and Classical Sanskrit in the Manusmṛti and the Mahabharata. The pre-Classical form of Sanskrit is known as Vedic Sanskrit, with the language of the Rigveda being the oldest and most archaic stage preserved, Classical Sanskrit is the standard register as laid out in the grammar of Pāṇini, around the fourth century BCE. Sanskrit, as defined by Pāṇini, evolved out of the earlier Vedic form, the present form of Vedic Sanskrit can be traced back to as early as the second millennium BCE. Scholars often distinguish Vedic Sanskrit and Classical or Pāṇinian Sanskrit as separate dialects, although they are quite similar, they differ in a number of essential points of phonology, vocabulary, grammar and syntax. Vedic Sanskrit is the language of the Vedas, a collection of hymns, incantations and theological and religio-philosophical discussions in the Brahmanas. Modern linguists consider the metrical hymns of the Rigveda Samhita to be the earliest, for nearly 2000 years, Sanskrit was the language of a cultural order that exerted influence across South Asia, Inner Asia, Southeast Asia, and to a certain extent East Asia. A significant form of post-Vedic Sanskrit is found in the Sanskrit of Indian epic poetry—the Ramayana, the deviations from Pāṇini in the epics are generally considered to be on account of interference from Prakrits, or innovations, and not because they are pre-Paninian. Traditional Sanskrit scholars call such deviations ārṣa, meaning of the ṛṣis, in some contexts, there are also more prakritisms than in Classical Sanskrit proper. There were four principal dialects of classical Sanskrit, paścimottarī, madhyadeśī, pūrvi, the predecessors of the first three dialects are attested in Vedic Brāhmaṇas, of which the first one was regarded as the purest. In the 2001 Census of India,14,035 Indians reported Sanskrit to be their first language, in India, Sanskrit is among the 14 original languages of the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. The state of Uttarakhand in India has ruled Sanskrit as its official language. In October 2012 social activist Hemant Goswami filed a petition in the Punjab. More than 3,000 Sanskrit works have been composed since Indias independence in 1947, much of this work has been judged of high quality, in comparison to both classical Sanskrit literature and modern literature in other Indian languages
21.
Paisa
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The paisa or poisha is a monetary unit in several countries, cognate terms include Baisa. In India, Nepal and Pakistan, the paisa currently equals 1⁄100 of a rupee, in Bangladesh, the poisha equals 1⁄100 of a Bangladeshi taka. In Oman, the baisa equals 1⁄1000 of an Omani rial, the word paisa is from the Sanskrit term padāṁśa, meaning quarter part, from pada foot or quarter and aṁśa part. Another explanation is that the word derives from Portuguese ´pesa´ from which peso, the pesa was also in use in colonial Kenya. The colloquial term for money in Burmese, paiksan, derives from the Hindi term paisa, until the 1950s in India and Pakistan, the paisa was equivalent to 3 pies, 1⁄4 of an anna, or 1⁄64 of a rupee. In Hindi, Afghan Persian, and other languages, the word often means money or cash. Medieval trade routes that spanned the Arabian Sea between India, the Arab regions and East Africa spread the usage of Indian subcontinent and Arabic currency terms across these areas, the word pesa as a reference to money in East African languages such as Swahili dates from that period. An example of usage is the older day Kenyan mobile-phone-based money transfer service M-Pesa. Poisha = 1⁄100 of a Bangladeshi taka Paisa = 1⁄100 of an Indian rupee Paisa = 1⁄100 of a Nepalese rupee Baisa = 1⁄1000 of an Omani rial Paisa = 1⁄100 of a Pakistani rupee Indian paisa
22.
Nepalese mohar
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The mohar was the currency of Kingdom of Nepal and the adjoin parts of Kingdom of Videha from the second half of the 17th century until 1932. Silver and gold mohars were issued, each subdivided into 128 dams, copper dams were also issued, together with copper paisa worth 4 copper dams. The values of the copper, silver and gold coinages relative to one another were not fixed until 1903, in that year, the silver mohar became the standard currency, divided into 50 paisa. It was replaced in 1932 by the rupee, also called the mohru, in the reign of the next king, no copper coins were issued, with silver ¾, 1½ and 3 mohar discontinued and 2 mohar introduced. Gold 1½ mohar were also discontinued, Surendra introduced a new copper coinage in 1866, consisting of 1 dam,1 and 2 paisa, with ½ paisa issued from 1880. The silver coinage consisted of the denominations as his predecessor. The coinage of Prithvi was very similar to that of Surendra, except for the issue of silver 4 mohar, the copper coinage of Tribhuvan consisted of 1 paisa, with 2 and 5 paisa added in 1919. Silver coins were issued for 1 dam, ¼, ½,1,2 and 4 mohar, with gold 1 dam, 1⁄32, 1⁄16, the gold coinage continued to be issued after the introduction of the rupee until 1950. Mohar is also a village in the district of Dadyal in the city of Mirpur Azad, Kasmir. Historical money of Tibet Nepalese coins Agrawal, Shyam and Gyawali, Kamal Prasad, Notes, golden Jubilee Year 2005/06, Kathmandu,2006. Joshi, Satya Mohan, Nepali Rashtriya Mudra, joshi, Satya Mohan, Nepali Rashtriya Mudra. Lalitpur 2042.173 pp. and 40 plates), rhodes, N G, Gabrisch, Karl and Valdettaro Pontecorvo de la Rocchetta, Carlo, The Coinage of Nepal from the earliest times until 1911. Royal Numismatic Society, Special Publication No, shrestha, Mandakini, Catalogue of National Numismatic Museum. His Majesty Government Ministry of Culture, Tourism & Civil Aviation, department of Archaeology, Chhauni, Kathmandu, B. S.2062. Shrestha, Ramesh, Nepalese Coins and Bank Notes, published by Kazi Madhusudan Raj Bhandary, Kathmandu,2007. The Coinage of Nepal With a Scholarly Introduction by Dr. T. P. Verma, reprinted by Indological Book House, Delhi and Varanasi,1973
23.
Dravidian languages
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The Dravidian languages with the most speakers are Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam. There are also groups of Dravidian-speaking scheduled tribes, who live beyond the mainstream communities, such as the Kurukh. Epigraphically the Dravidian languages have been attested since the 2nd century BCE, only two Dravidian languages are exclusively spoken outside India, Brahui in Pakistan and Dhangar, a dialect of Kurukh, in Nepal. Caldwell coined the term Dravidian for this family of languages, based on the usage of the Sanskrit word drāviḍa in the work Tantravārttika by Kumārila Bhaṭṭa. In his own words, Caldwell says, The word I have chosen is Dravidian, from Drāviḍa, I have, therefore, no doubt of the propriety of adopting it. The 1961 publication of the Dravidian etymological dictionary by T, emeneau proved a notable event in the study of Dravidian linguistics. As for the origin of the Sanskrit word drāviḍa itself, researchers have proposed various theories, basically the theories deal with the direction of derivation between tamiẓ and drāviḍa. There is no definite philological and linguistic basis for asserting unilaterally that the name Dravida also forms the origin of the word Tamil, Kamil Zvelebil cites the forms such as dramila damiḷa and then goes on to say, The forms damiḷa/damila almost certainly provide a connection of drviḍa and. Tamiḷ < tamiẓ. whereby the further development might have been *tamiẓ > *damiḷ > damiḷa- / damila- and further, with the intrusive, hypercorrect -r-, an analogical case of DED1033 Ta. kamuku, Tu. kangu areca nut, Skt. kramu. Sinhala BCE inscriptions cite dameḍa-, damela- denoting Tamil merchants and it appears that damiḷa- was older than draviḍa- which could be its Sanskritization. Based on what Krishnamurti states, the Sanskrit word draviḍa itself is later than damiḷa since the dates for the forms with -r- are centuries later than the dates for the forms without -r-. The Monier-Williams Sanskrit Dictionary lists for the Sanskrit word draviḍa a meaning of collective Name for 5 peoples, viz. the Āndhras, Karṇāṭakas, Gurjaras, Tailaṅgas, the Dravidian languages form a close-knit family. They are descended from the Proto-Dravidian language, there is reasonable agreement on how they are related to each other. Most scholars agree on four groups, North, Central, South-Central, earlier classifications grouped Central and South-Central Dravidian in a single branch. The classification below follows Krishnamurti in grouping South-Central and South Dravidian, languages recognized as official languages of India appear here in boldface. Some authors deny that North Dravidian forms a subgroup, splitting it into Northeast and Northwest. In some words, *c is retracted to /k/ and this development is however also found in several other Dravidian languages, including Kannada, Kodagu and Tulu. A few morphological parallels between Brahui and Kurukh-Malto are also known, but according to McAlpin they are analyzable as shared archaisms rather than shared innovations, approximately 29% of Indias population spoke Dravidian languages in 1981
24.
Grain (unit)
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A grain is a unit of measurement of mass, and, for the troy grain, equal to exactly 7001647989100000000♠64.79891 milligrams. It is nominally based upon the mass of a seed of a cereal. From the Bronze Age into the Renaissance the average masses of wheat, rather, expressions such as thirty-two grains of wheat, taken from the middle of the ear appear to have been ritualistic formulas, essentially the premodern equivalent of legal boilerplate. Another book states that Captain Henry Kater, of the British Standards Commission, the grain was the legal foundation of traditional English weight systems, and is the only unit that is equal throughout the troy, avoirdupois, and apothecaries systems of mass. The unit was based on the weight of a grain of barley. The fundamental unit of the pre-1527 English weight system known as Tower weights, was a different sort of known as the wheat grain. The Tower wheat grain was defined as exactly 45⁄64 of a troy grain.79891 milligrams, 7000100000000000000♠1 gram is approximately 7001154323600000000♠15.43236 grains. The unit formerly used by jewellers to measure pearls, diamonds, or other stones, called the jewellers grain or pearl grain, is equal to 1⁄4 of a carat. The grain was also the name of a traditional French unit equal to 6995531150000000000♠53.115 mg. In both British Imperial and U. S. customary units, there are precisely 7,000 grains per avoirdupois pound, the grain is commonly used to measure the mass of bullets and propellants. The term also refers to a particle of gunpowder, the size of which varies according to requirements. In archery, the grain is the unit used to weigh arrows. In dentistry, gold foil, used as a material to restore teeth, is measured in grains, in North America, the hardness of water is often measured in grains per US gallon of calcium carbonate equivalents. Otherwise, water hardness is measured in the metric unit parts per million, one grain per US gallon is approximately 6995171000000000000♠17.1 ppm. Soft water contains 1–4 gpg of calcium carbonate equivalents, while hard water contains 11–20 gpg, though no longer recommended, grains are still used occasionally in medicine as part of the apothecaries system, especially in prescriptions for older medicines such as aspirin or phenobarbital. For example, the dosage of a standard 6996325000000000000♠325 mg tablet of aspirin is sometimes given as 7000500000000000000♠5 grains, in that example the grain is approximated to 6995650000000000000♠65 mg, though the grain can also be approximated to 6995600000000000000♠60 mg, depending on the medication and manufacturer. The apothecaries system has its own system of notation, in which the symbol or abbreviation is followed by the quantity in lower case Roman numerals. For amounts less than one, the quantity is written as a fraction, or for one half, therefore, a prescription for tablets containing 325 mg of aspirin and 30 mg of codeine can be written ASA gr
25.
Sher Shah Suri
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Sher Shah Suri was the founder of the Sur Empire in North India, with its capital at Delhi. An ethnic Pashtun, Sher Shah took control of the Mughal Empire in 1540, after his accidental death in 1545, his son Islam Shah became his successor. He first served as a private before rising to become a commander in the Mughal army under Babur, in 1537, when Baburs son Humayun was elsewhere on an expedition, Sher Shah overran the state of Bengal and established the Sur dynasty. A brilliant strategist, Sher Shah proved himself as an administrator as well as a capable general. His reorganization of the laid the foundations for the later Mughal emperors, notably Akbar. During his five-year rule from 1540 to 1545, he set up a new civic and military administration, issued the first Rupiya and re-organised the postal system of India. He further developed Humayuns Dina-panah city and named it Shergarh and revived the city of Pataliputra. He extended the Grand Trunk Road from Chittagong in the frontiers of the province of Bengal in northeast India to Kabul in Afghanistan in the far northwest of the country. Sher Shah Suri was born as Farid Khan in the present day place Sasaram in the state of Bihar in India and his surname Suri was taken from his Sur tribe. The name Sher was conferred upon him when, as a young man and his grand father Ibrahim Khan Suri was a land lord in Narnaul area and represented Delhi rulers of that period. Mazar of Ibrahim Khan Suri still stands as a monument in Narnaul, tarikh-i Khan Jahan Lodi. also confirm this fact. However, the online Encyclopædia Britannica states that he was born in Sasaram and he was one of about eight sons of Mian Hassan Khan Suri, a prominent figure in the government of Bahlul Khan Lodi in Narnaul Pargana. Sher Khan belonged to the Pashtun Sur tribe and his grandfather, Ibrahim Khan Suri, was a noble adventurer from Roh who was recruited much earlier by Sultan Bahlul Lodi of Delhi during his long contest with the Jaunpur Sultanate. It is a ridge, a spur of the Sulaimán Mountains, about six or seven kos in length, during his early age, Farid was given a village in Fargana, Delhi by Omar Khan Sarwani, the counselor and courtier of Bahlul Khan Lodi. Farid Khan and his father, a jagirdar of Sasaram in Bihar, jamal Khan had advised Farid to return home but he refused. Farid replied in a letter, If my father wants me back to me in learning, there are in this city many learned men. Farid Khan started his service under Bahar Khan Lohani, the Mughal Governor of Bihar, because of his valour, Bahar Khan rewarded him the title Sher Khan. After the death of Bahar Khan, Sher Khan became the regent ruler of the minor Sultan, later sensing the growth of Sher Shahs power in Bihar, Jalal sought the assistance of Ghiyasuddin Mahmud Shah, the independent Sultan of Bengal
26.
Gold coin
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A gold coin is a coin that is made mostly or entirely of gold. Traditionally, gold coins have been circulation coins, including coin-like bracteates, since recent decades, however, gold coins are mainly produced as bullion coins to investors and as commemorative coins to collectors. While also modern gold coins are legal tender, they are not observed in financial transactions. For example, the American Gold Eagle, given a denomination of 50 USD, has a value of more than 1,000 USD. The gold reserves of banks are dominated by gold bars. Gold has been used as money for many reasons and it is fungible, with a low spread between the prices to buy and sell. Gold is also easily transportable, as it has a value to weight ratio, compared to other commodities. Gold can be re-coined, divided into units, or re-melted into larger units such as gold bars. The density of gold is higher than most other metals, making it difficult to pass counterfeits, additionally, gold is extremely unreactive, hence it does not tarnish or corrode over time. Gold was used in commerce in the Ancient Near East since the Bronze Age, the name of king Croesus of Lydia remains associated with the invention. In 546 BC, Croesus was captured by the Persians, who adopted gold as the metal for their coins. Ancient Greek coinage contained a number of coins issued by the various city states. The Ying yuan is a gold coin minted in ancient China. Larger units such as the various talent measures were used for high value exchanges, the German gold mark was introduced in 1873 in the German Empire, replacing the various local Gulden coins of the Holy Roman Empire. Gold coins then had a long period as a primary form of money. Most of the world stopped making gold coins as currency by 1933, gold-colored coins have made a comeback in many currencies. However, gold coin always refers to a coin that is made of gold, furthermore, many countries continue to make legal tender gold coins, but these are primarily meant for collectors and investment purposes and are not meant for circulation. Many factors determine the value of a coin, such as its rarity, age, condition
27.
Mohur
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It was usually equivalent in value to fifteen silver rupees. It was last minted in British India in 1918, but some states continued to issue the coins until their accession to India after 1947. Similar coins were issued by the British authorities in denominations of 2/3 mohur, 1/3 mohur and the double mohur. The mohur coin was first introduced by Sher Shah Suri during his rule in India between 1540 and 1545 and was then a coin weighing 169 grains. He also introduced copper coins called dam and silver coins called rupiya that weighed 178 grains, later on, the Mughal emperors standardized this coinage of tri-metallism across the sub-continent in order to consolidate the monetary system. The word mohur or mohor is from the Persian word muhr, gold mohurs issued by the Moghul Empire, the British East India Company or the British Crown are valuable collector items and sell in auctions for lakhs of rupees. The double mohur with a value of 30 rupees is the highest denomination circulating coin issued till date, an 1835 double mohur was sold at a Bangalore auction for Rs.11.5 lakhs making it the highest ever coin bid in India. Double eagle History of the rupee Dam Dam Nepalese mohar
28.
History of the rupee
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The history of the Rupee traces back to the Ancient India in circa 6th century BC. Ancient India was the earliest issuers of coins in the world, along with the Chinese wen and it is derived from the noun rūpa shape, likeness, image. The word rūpa is being identified as having sprung from the Dravidian. Vedic origin is more likely compare Sanskrit rūpá, n. m, a form, beauty, rūpaka adjective and n. m. A particular coin Pañcatantra, rūpya, *rūpiya-, adj. beautiful, there is no evidence of transmission to Indo-Aryan from Dravidian and textual evidence dates to well before any references in the later Dravidian. Rupa means form or shape, example, Rupyarupa, Rupya – wrought silver, rupa – form. Sher Shah Suri, during his rule from 1540 to 1545, set up a new civic and military administration and issued a coin of silver, weighing 178 grains. The silver coin remained in use during the Mughal period, Maratha era as well as in British India, among the earliest issues of paper rupees include the Bank of Hindostan, the General Bank of Bengal and Bihar, and the Bengal Bank. The Indian rupee was a currency during much of the 19th century. During British rule, and the first decade of independence, the rupee was subdivided into 16 annas, each anna was subdivided into either 4 paisas or 12 pies. So one rupee was equal to 16 annas,64 paises of 192 pies, in 1957, decimalisation occurred and the rupee was divided into 100 naye paise. After a few years, the initial naye was dropped, Ancient India in circa 6th century BC, was one of the earliest issuers of coins in the world, along with the Chinese wen and Lydian staters. The first rupee is believed to have introduced by Sher Shah Suri. The word rūpiya is derived from word rūpa, which means wrought silver and it is derived from the noun rūpa shape, likeness, image. Rupa means form or shape, example, Rūpyarūpa, Rūpya – wrought silver, in the intermediate times there is no fixed monetary system as reported by the Da Tang Xi Yu Ji. During his five-year rule from 1540 to 1546, Sher Shah Suri set up a new civic and military administration and issued a coin of silver, weighing 178 grains, which was termed the Rupiya. The silver coin remained in use during the Mughal period, the Maratha era and in British India, there are many fake coins of East India Company, with Indian gods depicted on the obverse side as shown in side-bar. Original East India Company coins show only the coat of arms of the East India Company, the coins of Bengal were developed in the Mughal style and those of Madras mostly in a South Indian style
29.
Maurya Empire
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The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power founded by Chandragupta Maurya which dominated ancient India between c. 322 and 187 BCE. Originating from the kingdom of Magadha in the Indo-Gangetic Plain in the side of the Indian subcontinent. The empire was the largest to have existed in the Indian subcontinent. By 316 BCE the empire had fully occupied Northwestern India, defeating and conquering the satraps left by Alexander, Chandragupta then defeated the invasion led by Seleucus I, a Macedonian general from Alexanders army, gaining additional territory west of the Indus River. The Maurya Empire was one of the largest empires of the world in its time and it declined for about 50 years after Ashokas rule ended, and it dissolved in 185 BCE with the foundation of the Shunga dynasty in Magadha. After the Kalinga War, the Empire experienced nearly half a century of peace, Mauryan India also enjoyed an era of social harmony, religious transformation, and expansion of the sciences and of knowledge. Ashoka sponsored the spreading of Buddhist ideals into Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, West Asia, the population of the empire has been estimated to be about 50–60 million, making the Mauryan Empire one of the most populous empires of Antiquity. Archaeologically, the period of Mauryan rule in South Asia falls into the era of Northern Black Polished Ware, the Arthashastra and the Edicts of Ashoka are the primary sources of written records of Mauryan times. The Lion Capital of Ashoka at Sarnath has been made the national emblem of India, the Maurya Empire was founded by Chandragupta Maurya, with help from Chanakya, at Takshashila. Chanakya swore revenge and vowed to destroy the Nanda Empire, meanwhile, the conquering armies of Alexander the Great refused to cross the Beas River and advance further eastward, deterred by the prospect of battling Magadha. Alexander returned to Babylon and re-deployed most of his troops west of the Indus River, soon after Alexander died in Babylon in 323 BCE, his empire fragmented, and local kings declared their independence, leaving several smaller disunited satraps. Chandragupta Mauryas rise to power is shrouded in mystery and controversy, on one hand, a number of ancient Indian accounts, such as the drama Mudrarakshasa by Vishakhadatta, describe his royal ancestry and even link him with the Nanda family. A kshatriya clan known as the Mauryas are referred to in the earliest Buddhist texts, however, any conclusions are hard to make without further historical evidence. Chandragupta first emerges in Greek accounts as Sandrokottos, as a young man he is said to have met Alexander. He is also said to have met the Nanda king, angered him, Chanakyas original intentions were to train a guerilla army under Chandraguptas command. The Mudrarakshasa of Vishakhadatta as well as the Jaina work Parishishtaparvan talk of Chandraguptas alliance with the Himalayan king Parvatka, Chanakya encouraged Chandragupta Maurya and his army to take over the throne of Magadha. These men included the general of Taxila, accomplished students of Chanakya, the representative of King Porus of Kakayee, his son Malayketu. The Macedonians may then have participated, together with other groups, the Mudrarakshasa of Visakhadutta as well as the Jaina work Parisishtaparvan talk of Chandraguptas alliance with the Himalayan king Parvatka, often identified with Porus
30.
French East India Company
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The French East India Company was a commercial enterprise, founded in 1664 to compete with the English and Dutch East India companies in the East Indies. Planned by Jean-Baptiste Colbert, it was chartered by King Louis XIV for the purpose of trading in the Eastern Hemisphere and it resulted from the fusion of three earlier companies, the 1660 Compagnie de Chine, the Compagnie dOrient and Compagnie de Madagascar. French king Henry IV authorized the first Compagnie des Indes Orientales and this precursor to Colberts later Compagnie des Indes Orientales, however, was not a joint-stock corporation, and was funded by the Crown. The initial capital of the revamped Compagnie des Indes Orientales was 15 million livres, Louis XIV funded the first 3 million livres of investment, against which losses in the first 10 years were to be charged. The initial stock offering sold out, as courtiers of Louis XIV recognized that it was in their interests to support the King’s overseas initiative. The Compagnie des Indes Orientales was granted a 50-year monopoly on French trade in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the French monarch also granted the Company a concession in perpetuity for the island of Madagascar, as well as any other territories it could conquer. The Company failed to found a colony on Madagascar, but was able to establish ports on the nearby islands of Bourbon. By 1719, it had established itself in India, but the firm was near bankruptcy, in the same year the Compagnie des Indes Orientales was combined under the direction of John Law with other French trading companies to form the Compagnie Perpétuelle des Indes. The reorganized corporation resumed its independence in 1723. With the decline of the Mughal Empire, the French decided to intervene in Indian political affairs to protect their interests, from 1741 the French under Joseph François Dupleix pursued an aggressive policy against both the Indians and the British until they ultimately were defeated by Robert Clive. Several Indian trading ports, including Pondichéry and Chandernagore, remained under French control until 1954, the Company was not able to maintain itself financially, and it was abolished in 1769, about 20 years before the French Revolution. King Louis XVI issued a 1769 edict that required the Company to transfer to the state all its properties, assets and rights, the company was reconstituted in 1785 and issued 40,000 shares of stock priced at 1,000 livres apiece. It was given monopoly on all trade with countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope for a period of seven years. The company, accustomed neither to competition nor official disfavor, fell into decline and was finally liquidated in 1794. Even as the company was headed consciously toward extinction, it became embroiled in its most infamous scandal, the Committee of Public Safety had banned all joint-stock companies on 24 August 1793, and specifically seized the assets and papers of the East India Company. When this became known the year, the resulting scandal led to the execution of key Montagnard deputies like Fabre dEglantine and Joseph Delaunay. The infighting sparked by the episode also brought down Georges Danton, Colbert, Mercantilism, and the French Quest for Asian Trade. DeKalb, IL, Northern Illinois University Press, the Shaping of the French Colonial Empire, A Bio-Bibliography of the Careers of Richelieu, Fouquet and Colbert
31.
Muhammad Shah
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Nasir-ud-Din Muhammad Shah, Nasir-ud-Din Muhammad Shah Irkhwaz, Abu Al-Fatah Nasir-ud-Din Roshan Akhtar Muhammad Shah, was the Mughal emperor between 1719 and 1748. He was son of Khujista Akhtar, the son of Bahadur Shah I. With the help of the Sayyid brothers, he ascended the throne at the age of 17. He later got rid of them with the help of Asaf Jah I – Syed Hussain Ali Khan was murdered at Fatehpur Sikri in 1720, Muhammad Shah was a great patron of the arts, including musical, cultural and administrative developments. His pen-name was Sada Rangila and he is referred to as Muhammad Shah Rangila. Although he was a patron of the arts, Muhammad Shahs reign was marked by rapid, the Mughal Empire was already decaying, but the invasion by Nader Shah of Persia and the subsequent sacking of Delhi, the Mughal capital, greatly accelerated the pace. The course of events not only shocked and mortified the Mughals themselves, Muhammad Shah was born in 1702 in Ghazna to Prince Khujista Akhtar, during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. Handsome and quick to learn, his mother took care of his education. Since the overthrow of Farrukhsiyar in 1719 many Mughal Emperors briefly ascended to the throne, on 29 September 1719, he was given the title Abu Al-Fatah Nasir-ud-Din Roshan Akhtar Muhammad Shah and enthroned in the Red Fort. His mother was given an allowance of 15 thousand rupees monthly for her needs, in the year 1720, Syed Hussain Ali Khan Barha, the commander and chief of the most elite Mughal Army, was assassinated in his encampment in Toba Bhim on 9 October 1720. The Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah took direct command of his forces, Asaf Jah I was then dispatched to gain complete control of 6 Mughal provinces in the Deccan, and Muhammad Amin Khan Turani was assigned as the Mansabdar of 8000. Previously the emperor had to fight Muhammad Ibrahim, but young Muhammad Shah defeated him on 13 November 1720, the fall of the Sayyid Brothers marked the beginning of the end of the Mughal Empires direct control over its dominions in the Deccan. In the year 1721, young Muhammad Shah married the daughter of the previously deposed Mughal Emperor Farrukhsiyar, on 21 February 1722, the Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah appointed the Asaf Jah I as Grand Vizier of the Mughal Empire. He advised the new Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah to be as cautious as Akbar, Asaf Jah I resigned his post as the Grand Vizier when the Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah expressed negligence towards his administration. The Mughal Grand Vizier, Asaf Jah I appointed the Mughal commander Ewaz Khan as the master of the garrison at Aurangabad and much of his logistical duties were carried out by Inayatullah Kashmiri. Asaf Jah I left the court in disgust and appointed his deputy Qamaruddin Khan as the next Grand Vizier of the Mughal Empire. There Asaf Jah I fought Mubariz Khan the Mughal Subedar of the Deccan, taking advantage of Mubariz Khans conventional weaknesses Asaf Jah I defeated and eliminated his opponent during the Battle of Shakarkhelda. Asaf Jah I then established the Nizam of Hyderabad in 1725, during this time, the Mughal-Maratha Wars would cause irreparable devastation to the inhabitants of the ill-administered Mughal Empire
32.
Puducherry district
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Puducherry district, formerly Pondicherry district is one of the four districts of the union territory of Puducherry in southern India. The district occupies an area of 290 square kilometres, spread over 11 non-contiguous enclaves lying on or near the Bay of Bengal within an area in the state of Tamil Nadu. According to the 2011 census, the district has a population of 946,600, for administrative purpose, the union territory of Puducherry is divided into eight taluks. Four of these, viz. Puducherry, Ozhukarai, Villianur and Bahour, among these four, only Ozhukarai taluk does not contain any rural area. The rural areas under the three taluks are further divided commune panchayats or simply communes. Census 2011 has identified three census towns in Puducherry district, along three existing statutory towns. Pondicherry and Ozhukarai are the municipalities, Kurumbapet is the gram panchayat, Puducherry urban agglomeration consists of the area under the all these six towns along with Odiampet, which is considered as urban outgrowth of Kurumbapet. Pondicherry North subdivision contains the taluks of Pondicherry and Ozhukarai, whereas Pondicherry South subdivision consists of the two taluks of the district, viz. Villianur and Bahour. Each of these four taluks are further divided into sub-taluks/firkas which consists of villages from rural/semi-urban/urban area. Planning and Research Department, Government of Puducherry, further defines the notion of a block, the union territory of Puducherry is divided into six blocks, three of which forms the Pondicherry district, viz. Ariyankuppam, Ozkhukarai and Villianur. Puducherrys population,946,600, is equal to that of the nation of Fiji or the US state of Delaware. This gives it a ranking of 460th in India, the district has a population density of 3,231 inhabitants per square kilometre. Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 28. 73%, Puducherry has a sex ratio of 1,031 females for every 1,000 males, and a literacy rate of 86. 13%
33.
Mughal Empire
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The dynasty, though ethnically Turco-Mongol, was Persianate in terms of culture. The Mughal empire extended over parts of the Indian subcontinent. The beginning of the empire is conventionally dated to the victory by its founder Babur over Ibrahim Lodi, the Mughal emperors were Central Asian Turco-Mongols belonging to the Timurid dynasty, who claimed direct descent from both Genghis Khan and Timur. During the reign of Humayun, the successor of Babur, the empire was briefly interrupted by the Sur Empire, the classic period of the Mughal Empire started in 1556 with the ascension of Akbar the Great to the throne. Under the rule of Akbar and his son Jahangir, the region enjoyed economic progress as well as harmony. Akbar was a warrior who also forged alliances with several Hindu Rajput kingdoms. Some Rajput kingdoms continued to pose a significant threat to the Mughal dominance of northwestern India, the reign of Shah Jahan, the fifth emperor, between 1628 and 1658 was the golden age of Mughal architecture. He erected several monuments, the best known of which is the Taj Mahal at Agra, as well as the Moti Masjid, Agra, the Red Fort, the Jama Masjid, Delhi. By the mid-18th century, the Marathas had routed Mughal armies, during the following century Mughal power had become severely limited, and the last emperor, Bahadur Shah II, had authority over only the city of Shahjahanabad. He issued a firman supporting the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and following the defeat was therefore tried by the British East India Company for treason, imprisoned and exiled to Rangoon. Contemporaries referred to the empire founded by Babur as the Timurid empire, which reflected the heritage of his dynasty, another name was Hindustan, which was documented in the Ain-i-Akbari, and which has been described as the closest to an official name for the empire. In the west, the term Mughal was used for the emperor, and by extension, the use of Mughal derived from the Arabic and Persian corruption of Mongol, and it emphasised the Mongol origins of the Timurid dynasty. The term gained currency during the 19th century, but remains disputed by Indologists, similar terms had been used to refer to the empire, including Mogul and Moghul. Nevertheless, Baburs ancestors were sharply distinguished from the classical Mongols insofar as they were oriented towards Persian rather than Turco-Mongol culture, ousted from his ancestral domains in Central Asia, Babur turned to India to satisfy his ambitions. He established himself in Kabul and then pushed steadily southward into India from Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass, Baburs forces occupied much of northern India after his victory at Panipat in 1526. The preoccupation with wars and military campaigns, however, did not allow the new emperor to consolidate the gains he had made in India, the instability of the empire became evident under his son, Humayun, who was driven out of India and into Persia by rebels. Humayuns exile in Persia established diplomatic ties between the Safavid and Mughal Courts, and led to increasing Persian cultural influence in the Mughal Empire, the restoration of Mughal rule began after Humayuns triumphant return from Persia in 1555, but he died from a fatal accident shortly afterwards. Humayuns son, Akbar, succeeded to the throne under a regent, Bairam Khan, through warfare and diplomacy, Akbar was able to extend the empire in all directions and controlled almost the entire Indian subcontinent north of the Godavari River
34.
Stater
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The stater was an ancient coin used in various regions of Greece. The term is used for similar coins, imitating Greek staters. The stater, as a Greek silver currency, first as ingots, the earliest known stamped stater is an electrum turtle coin, struck at Aegina that dates to about 700 BC. It is on display at the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris, the silver stater minted at Corinth of 8.6 grams weight was divided into three silver drachmas of 2.9 grams, but was often linked to the Athenian silver didrachm coin weighing 8.6 grams. In comparison, the Athenian silver tetradrachm was weighing 17.2 grams. There also existed a gold stater, but it was minted in some places, and was mainly an accounting unit worth 20–28 drachmas depending on place and time. The use of gold staters in coinage seems mostly of Macedonian origin, the best known types of Greek gold staters are the 28 drachmas Kyzikenos from Cyzicus. Celtic tribes brought the concept to Western and Central Europe after obtaining it while serving as mercenaries in north Greece. Gold staters were minted in Gaul by Gallic chiefs modeled after those of Philip II of Macedonia, some of these staters in the form of the Gallo-Belgic series were imported to Britain on a large scale. These went on to influence a range of staters produced in Britain, british Gold staters generally weighed between 6.5 and 4.5 grams. Celtic staters were minted in present-day Czech Republic and Poland. The conquests of Alexander extended Greek culture east, leading to the adoption of staters in Asia, Gold staters have also been found from the ancient region of Gandhara from the time of Kanishka
35.
Chinese cash (currency unit)
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The cash was a currency denomination used in China in imperial times. It was the denomination until the introduction of the yuan in the late 19th century. The English term cash was first used on coins issued in Kwangtung Province in 1900 and it did not appear on paper money. The plural forms cash and cashes were both used, the English word cash, meaning tangible currency, is an older word from Portuguese caixa or Middle French caisse. The Chinese character wen has several meanings in modern Chinese. The wen was one of the units of currency in China and was used to denominate both coins and paper money. Other denominations were used, including weights, based on the tael system, for sycee silver. Until the 19th century, coins denominated in wen were cast, the hole enabled the coins to be strung together to create higher denominations, as was frequently done due to the coins low value. The number of coins in a string of cash varied over time, a string of 1000 wén was supposed to be equal in value to one tael of pure silver. Each string of cash was divided in ten sections of 100, the person who strung the cash into a string took one, two, or three cash per hundred, depending on local custom, as payment for his effort. So, in fact, an ounce of silver could vary in exchange from 970 to 990 cash between two places fairly close together, in places in the North where there was a shortage of coinage a string of 500 or 500 exchanged for an ounce of silver. Paper money sometimes showed pictures of the number of 1 wén coins strung together. In the 19th century, foreign coins began to widely in China. In 1889, Chinese currency began to be denominated in the yuan, the cash or wén was retained in this system as 1⁄1000 yuan. Traditional style, cast 1 wén coins continued to be produced until the end of the Chinese Empire in 1911, the last coins denominated in cash were struck in the early years of the Republic of China in 1924. Numerous authorities issued coins denominated in wén in the nineteenth century, most coins were 1 wén denominations, but denominations of 5,10,50,100,200,500 and 1000 wén were also issued. After the introduction of the yuan, coins were struck in denominations of 1,2,5,10 and 20 cash or wén, the worlds first paper money, issued in China between the 7th and 15th centuries, was denominated in wén. The notes carried depictions of coins, sometimes in strings of ten, the notes of the Yuan dynasty suffered from hyperinflation due to over production without sufficient coins to back them and were withdrawn
36.
Silver coin
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Silver coins are possibly the oldest mass-produced form of coinage. Silver has been used as a coinage metal since the times of the Greeks, the ancient Persians used silver coins between 612-330 BC. Before 1797, British pennies were made of silver, as with all collectible coins, many factors determine the value of a silver coin, such as its rarity, demand, condition and the number originally minted. Ancient silver coins coveted by collectors include the Denarius and Miliarense, while more recent collectible silver coins include the Morgan Dollar, other than collectors silver coins, silver bullion coins are popular among people who desire a hedge against currency inflation or store of value. Silver has a currency symbol of XAG under ISO4217. The earliest coins of the world were minted in the kingdom of Lydia in Asia Minor around 600 BC. The coins of Lydia were made of electrum, which is a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver, the concept of coinage, i. e. stamped lumps of metal of a specified weight, quickly spread to adjacent regions, such as Aegina. In these neighbouring regions, inhabited by Greeks, coins were made of silver. As Greek merchants traded with Greek communities throughout the Mediterranean Sea and these early Greek silver coins were denominated in staters or drachmas and its fractions. More or less simultaneously with the development of the Lydian and Greek coinages, the Chinese coins, however, were a different concept and they were made of bronze. The coins of the Greeks were issued by a number of city states. The coinage systems were not entirely the same from one place to another, however, the so-called Attic standard, Corinthian standard, Aiginetic standard and other standards defined the proper weight of each coin. Each of these standards were used in places throughout the Mediterranean region. In the 4th century BC, the Kingdom of Macedonia came to dominate the Greek world, the most powerful of their kings, Alexander the Great eventually launched an attack on the Kingdom of Persia, defeating and conquering it. Greek coins were now issued by kings, and only to an extent by cities. Greek rulers were now minting coins as far away as Egypt, the tetradrachm was a popular coin throughout the region. This era is referred to as the hellenistic era, while much of the Greek world was being transformed into monarchies, the Romans were expanding their control throughout the Italian Peninsula. The Romans minted their first coins during the early 3rd century BC, the earliest coins were - like other coins in the region - silver drachms with a supplementary bronze coinage
37.
Afghanistan
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Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located within South Asia and Central Asia. It has a population of approximately 32 million, making it the 42nd most populous country in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the north and its territory covers 652,000 km2, making it the 41st largest country in the world. The land also served as the source from which the Kushans, Hephthalites, Samanids, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Khiljis, Mughals, Hotaks, Durranis, the political history of the modern state of Afghanistan began with the Hotak and Durrani dynasties in the 18th century. In the late 19th century, Afghanistan became a state in the Great Game between British India and the Russian Empire. Following the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919, King Amanullah unsuccessfully attempted to modernize the country and it remained peaceful during Zahir Shahs forty years of monarchy. A series of coups in the 1970s was followed by a series of wars that devastated much of Afghanistan. The name Afghānistān is believed to be as old as the ethnonym Afghan, the root name Afghan was used historically in reference to a member of the ethnic Pashtuns, and the suffix -stan means place of in Persian. Therefore, Afghanistan translates to land of the Afghans or, more specifically in a historical sense, however, the modern Constitution of Afghanistan states that he word Afghan shall apply to every citizen of Afghanistan. An important site of historical activities, many believe that Afghanistan compares to Egypt in terms of the historical value of its archaeological sites. The country sits at a unique nexus point where numerous civilizations have interacted and it has been home to various peoples through the ages, among them the ancient Iranian peoples who established the dominant role of Indo-Iranian languages in the region. At multiple points, the land has been incorporated within large regional empires, among them the Achaemenid Empire, the Macedonian Empire, the Indian Maurya Empire, and the Islamic Empire. Archaeological exploration done in the 20th century suggests that the area of Afghanistan has been closely connected by culture and trade with its neighbors to the east, west. Artifacts typical of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze, urban civilization is believed to have begun as early as 3000 BCE, and the early city of Mundigak may have been a colony of the nearby Indus Valley Civilization. More recent findings established that the Indus Valley Civilisation stretched up towards modern-day Afghanistan, making the ancient civilisation today part of Pakistan, Afghanistan, in more detail, it extended from what today is northwest Pakistan to northwest India and northeast Afghanistan. An Indus Valley site has found on the Oxus River at Shortugai in northern Afghanistan. There are several smaller IVC colonies to be found in Afghanistan as well, after 2000 BCE, successive waves of semi-nomadic people from Central Asia began moving south into Afghanistan, among them were many Indo-European-speaking Indo-Iranians. These tribes later migrated further into South Asia, Western Asia, the region at the time was referred to as Ariana
38.
Afghan afghani
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The afghani is the currency of Afghanistan. It is nominally subdivided into 100 pul, although there are no pul coins currently in circulation, the first afghani was introduced in 1925. In addition to being subdivided into 100 pul,20 afghani were equal to one amani, the rate of conversion from the rupee is sometimes quoted as 1 afghani =1 rupee 6 paisa, based on the silver contents of the last rupee coins and the first Afghani coins. The Afghani initially contained 9 grams of silver, except during World War I Afghanistans foreign exchange rate has been freely determined by market forces. Bank-e Milli agreed to exchange afghanis at 4 Afs against 1 Indian rupee in 1935, after the establishment of Da Afghanistan Bank as the Central Bank of Afghanistan, such a preferential official fixed exchange rate continued to be practiced. Since 2002, Da Afghanistan Bank has adopted a floating exchange rate regime and has let the exchange rate to be determined freely by market forces, ehsan accused the firm of sending new shipments of Afghani notes to ousted president Burhanuddin Rabbani in northern Takhar province. In April,2000, the afghani traded at 6400 AFA per USD, by 2002, the afghani was valued at 43,000 AFA per USD. In 1930, bronze and brass 1 and 25 pul were added, along with bronze 3 pul, in 1952, aluminium 25 pul and nickel-clad steel 50 pul were introduced, followed by aluminium 2 and 5 afghani in 1958. In 1961 nickel-clad steel 1,2 and 5 afghani were minted, the 1 and 2 afghani coins show years of SH1340, in 1973, the Republic of Afghanistan issued brass-clad-steel 25 pul, copper-clad steel 50 pul and cupro-nickel-clad steel 5 afghani coins. These were followed, between 1978 and 1980, by issues of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan consisting of aluminium-bronze 25 and 50 pul, a number of commemorative coins were also issued by the Islamic State of Afghanistan between 1995 and 2001. Between 1925 and 1928, Treasury notes were introduced in denominations of 5,10 and 50 afghanis, in 1936,2,20 and 100 afghani notes were added. The Bank of Afghanistan took over paper money production in 1939, the 2 and 5 afghani notes were replaced by coins in 1958. In 1993,5000 and 10,000 afghani notes were introduced. A pothole cave or mouth of a shaft is said to be visible on the 10,000 afghanis banknote as a dark area in the hillside above the ancient pol or gateway at the ruins near Lashkar Gah. This is possibly the entrance to one of the man-made undergrounds at Qala-i-Bost, between October 7,2002, and January 2,2003, a new afghani was introduced with the ISO4217 code AFN. It replaced the previous afghani at two distinct rates. S. dollar, prior to the reissue, there were more than 15 trillion afghani in circulation after unrestrained printing under Taliban rule and during wars and occupation. This was in preparation for October 8 when all prices in the Afghan marketplace were to be specified in afghani. After depreciating during the last quarter of 2003/04, the afghani has been appreciating steadily and this appreciation, at a time of increasing inflation, appears to reflect a greater willingness by the population to use the afghani as a medium of exchange and as a store of value
39.
Tibet
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Tibet is a region on the Tibetan Plateau in Asia, spanning about 2.4 million km2 and nearly a quarter of Chinas territory. Tibet is the highest region on Earth, with an elevation of 4,900 metres. The highest elevation in Tibet is Mount Everest, Earths highest mountain, the Tibetan Empire emerged in the 7th century, but with the fall of the empire the region soon divided into a variety of territories. The current borders of Tibet were generally established in the 18th century, following the Xinhai Revolution against the Qing dynasty in 1912, Qing soldiers were disarmed and escorted out of Tibet Area. The region subsequently declared its independence in 1913 without recognition by the subsequent Chinese Republican government, later, Lhasa took control of the western part of Xikang, China. There are tensions regarding Tibets political status and dissident groups that are active in exile and it is also said that Tibetan activists in Tibet have been arrested or tortured. The economy of Tibet is dominated by agriculture, though tourism has become a growing industry in recent decades. The dominant religion in Tibet is Tibetan Buddhism, in there is Bön, which is similar to Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhism is an influence on the art, music. Tibetan architecture reflects Chinese and Indian influences, staple foods in Tibet are roasted barley, yak meat, and butter tea. The Tibetan name for their land, Bod བོད་, means Tibet or Tibetan Plateau, although it meant the central region around Lhasa. The Standard Tibetan pronunciation of Bod, is transcribed Bhö in Tournadre Phonetic Transcription, Bö in the THL Simplified Phonetic Transcription and Poi in Tibetan pinyin. Tibetan people, language, and culture, regardless of where they are from, are referred to as Zang although the geographical term Xīzàng is often limited to the Tibet Autonomous Region. The term Xīzàng was coined during the Qing dynasty in the reign of the Jiaqing Emperor through the addition of a prefix meaning west to Zang, the best-known medieval Chinese name for Tibet is Tubo. This name first appears in Chinese characters as 土番 in the 7th century, in the Middle Chinese spoken during that period, as reconstructed by William H. Baxter, 土番 was pronounced thux-phjon and 吐蕃 was pronounced thux-pjon. Other pre-modern Chinese names for Tibet include Wusiguo, Wusizang, Tubote, the English word Tibet or Thibet dates back to the 18th century. Historical linguists generally agree that Tibet names in European languages are loanwords from Semitic Ṭībat orTūbātt, itself deriving from Turkic Töbäd, literally, according to Matthew Kapstein, From the perspective of historical linguistics, Tibetan most closely resembles Burmese among the major languages of Asia. More controversial is the theory that the Tibeto-Burman family is part of a larger language family, called Sino-Tibetan
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Dubai
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Dubai is the largest and most populous city in the United Arab Emirates. It is located on the southeast coast of the Persian Gulf and is the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Dubai are the only two emirates to have veto power over critical matters of national importance in the countrys legislature. The city of Dubai is located on the northern coastline. Dubai will host World Expo 2020, Dubai has emerged as a global city and business hub of the Middle East. It is also a transport hub for passengers and cargo. By the 1960s, Dubais economy was based on revenues from trade and, to an extent, oil exploration concessions. Oil revenue first started to flow in 1969, Dubais oil revenue helped accelerate the early development of the city, but its reserves are limited and production levels are low, today, less than 5% of the emirates revenue comes from oil. The emirates Western-style model of business drives its economy with the main revenues now coming from tourism, aviation, real estate, Dubai was recently named the best destination for Muslim travellers by Salam Standard. Dubai has recently attracted attention through many innovative large construction projects and sports events. The city has become iconic for its skyscrapers and high-rise buildings, in particular the worlds tallest building, Dubai has been criticised for human rights violations concerning the citys largely South Asian and Filipino workforce. As of 2012, Dubai was the 22nd most expensive city in the world, in 2014, Dubais hotel rooms were rated as the second most expensive in the world, after Geneva. Dubai was rated as one of the best places to live in the Middle East by U. S. global consulting firm Mercer, Many theories have been proposed as to the origin of the word Dubai. One theory suggests the word was used to describe the souq, another theory states that the name came from a word meaning money, as people from Dubai were commonly believed to be rich due to the thriving trading centre of the location. An Arabic proverb says Daba Dubai, meaning They came with a lot of money, according to Fedel Handhal, a scholar on the UAEs history and culture, the word Dubai may have come from the word daba, referring to the slow flow of Dubai Creek inland. The poet and scholar Ahmad Mohammad Obaid traces it to the same word, an inhabitant or native of the city is a Dubaian. Although stone tools have been found at archaeological sites, little is known about the UAEs early inhabitants as only a few settlements have been found. Many ancient towns in the area were trading centres between the Eastern and Western worlds, the remnants of an ancient mangrove swamp, dated at 7000 BC, were discovered during the construction of sewer lines near Dubai Internet City. The area was covered with sand about 5,000 years ago as the coast retreated inland, pre-Islamic ceramics have been found from the 3rd and 4th centuries
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Qatar
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Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a sovereign country located in Western Asia, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its surrounded by the Persian Gulf. A strait in the Persian Gulf separates Qatar from the island country of Bahrain, as well as sharing maritime borders with the United Arab Emirates. Following Ottoman rule, Qatar became a British protectorate in the early 20th century until gaining independence in 1971, Qatar has been ruled by the House of Thani since the early 19th century. Sheikh Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani was the founder of the State of Qatar, Qatar is a hereditary monarchy and its head of state is Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Whether it should be regarded as a constitutional or a monarchy is a matter of opinion. In 2003, the constitution was approved in a referendum. In early 2017, Qatars total population was 2.3 million,313,000 Qatari citizens and 2.6 million expatriates, Qatar is a high income economy and is a developed country, backed by the worlds third largest natural gas reserves and oil reserves. The country has the highest per capita income in the world, Qatar is classified by the UN as a country of very high human development and is the most advanced Arab state for human development. Qatar is a significant power in the Arab world, supporting several rebel groups during the Arab Spring both financially and through its globally expanding media group, Al Jazeera Media Network. For its size, Qatar wields disproportionate influence in the world, Qatar will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, becoming the first Arab country to do so. A century later, Ptolemy produced the first known map to depict the peninsula, the map also referenced a town named Cadara to the east of the peninsula. The term Catara was exclusively used until the 18th century, after which Katara emerged as the most commonly recognised spelling, eventually, the modern derivative Qatar was adopted as the countrys name. In Standard Arabic, the name is pronounced, while in the local dialect it is, Human habitation of Qatar dates back to 50,000 years ago. Settlements and tools dating back to the Stone Age have been unearthed in the peninsula, Mesopotamian artefacts originating from the Ubaid period have been discovered in abandoned coastal settlements. Al Daasa, a settlement located on the western coast of Qatar, is the most important Ubaid site in the country and is believed to have accommodated a small seasonal encampment. Kassite Babylonian material dating back to the second millennium BC found in Al Khor Islands attests to trade relations between the inhabitants of Qatar and the Kassites in modern-day Bahrain, among the findings were 3,000,000 crushed snail shells and Kassite potsherds. It has been suggested that Qatar is the earliest known site of shellfish dye production, in 224 AD, the Sasanian Empire gained control over the territories surrounding the Persian Gulf
India
Indonesia
Maldives
Mauritius
Nepal
Pakistan
Seychelles
Sri Lanka
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "rupee". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "
