Pound Sterlling - History and Facts
Pound Sterling (English. pound sterling) - the official monetary unit of Great Britain, her dependent and outside territories:бritan locale Atlantic and Indian Oceansas well as South Georgia and South Georgia Islandsе Sandwich's. The symbol of the pound sterling is Libra - sign ?which previously had two transversal features. Pound Sterling Bank Code - familiar currency traders GBP (GreatBritainPounds), it is sometimes mistakenly replaced by UKP (UnitedKingdomPound). Numeric code - 4217.
At present 1 pound sterling is equal to 100 pence. Bills of 5, 10, 20, 50 pounds and coins of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 pence and 1, 2 pounds are in circulation. Coins of 1/2 pence, 25 pence, and 5 pounds are rarely found.
How the pound came into being
Most often, when talking about the origin of the name pound, three hypotheses are cited.
The first of these, of course, is associated with measure of weight. It is believed that "pound sterling" originally translated as "a pound of pure silver," and is associated with the ancient English silver coin "sterling," 240 pieces of which weighed exactly 1 pound.
The Oxford English Dictionary offered its own version in 1955, according to which the name "sterling" goes back to 1300 and comes from the common name of the Norman penny, which coin design featured small stars or steorling in Old English.
However, the most common is the third version of the origin of the name of the English coin, proposed by Walter de Pinchebek. According to his theory, northern Germany, which actively traded with England in the XII century, used for payment coins made not of pure silver, soft and quickly deteriorating, but of a special silver alloy, which was called "Easterling Silver (silver from the eastern lands). King Henry II of England appreciated this alloy, and since 1158 all coins of the country were minted only from it. Gradually in everyday life the name was shortened to "Sterling Silver", giving us the familiar name of British currency today.
The language lives and develops, so now in colloquial speech you can hear abbreviations to just "pound" or "sterling. In English speech you may encounter "ster" or "stg," and also widely used, including in trader circles, the slang "quid" (quid).
Through fire, water and brass pipes
Before the English currency had its present form, it underwent many different transformations: the transition from the twelve-currency system to the decimal system, the appearance of banknotes, the gold standard, its abolition and the proposal to replace the pound sterling with a common European currency. You can read about all this in our other articles about GBP, here we will give some of the most interesting moments of the history of the formation of this currency:
? Before the decimal coinage system, 1 pound was equal to 20 shillings and 240 pence;
? At the very beginning of its emergence the pound was minted in silver The highest proof, but over time, due to high wear and tear, the amount of silver in the coin alloy decreased significantly, until it was replaced by gold;
? By accepting gold standard the pound became worth $4,886, 25.22 French francs, 20.43 German marks, or 24.02 Austro-Hungarian kroner;
? Since Great Britain had a huge number of colonies, the pound sterling was also actively used in them along with local money;
? Under the Bretton Woods Agreement, the value of the pound became $4.03. This ratio was maintained throughout World War II;
? The most famous financial story related to the pound sterling is "Black Wednesday - September 16, 1992When the volatility of the economy of England led to a sharp decline in the national currency, on which George Soros has earned about $ 1 billion;
? The first sterling banknotes were issued in 1694 by the Bank of England, at the same time the national monetary unit of Great Britain was assigned its present name.
Battle of the currency heavyweights
England is an active member of the European Union, but the European currency as a national currency has not been accepted. This proposal was rejected by 55% of the population of the country in a referendum. "In favor" 30% of the English voted. The main reason for the population's rejection of euro called the fact of respect for its history on the part of the British - the pound sterling is associated with the independence and strength of Great Britain, which the new European currency could not give.
Honorary "bronze"
The role of the Central Bank of Great Britain is to Bank of England. It also monitors the monetary policy of the country, varying inflationary pressures by the number of pounds in circulation. The issuing of banknotes is entrusted to the various banks in the country (Scotland, Ulster, etc.), and they are allowed to issue banknotes of their own design. Such banknotes must be accepted by every bank and financial institution in the country, but refusals do occur.
On the world stage The pound sterling has long been a reserve currency. It is worth saying that before the advent of the euro, it was the second most popular in this role after the U.S. dollar. In the market sterling is also the third most popular currency among traders. Multibillion-dollar trades are made with it every day, and the pound is a measure of the economic stability of the Old World.
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