The pound was originally the value of the weight of a Pound Sterling Silver Tower (hence it is called "sterling pound"). The symbol of the currency is the pound symbol, originally ₤ with two crossed bars, later it was more common with a single bar. The symbol is derived from the letter "L", from the abbreviation LSD - librae, solidi, denarii - used for pounds, shillings and pennies of the original duodecimal monetary system. Libra was the basic Roman unit of weight, which was derived from the Latin of "balance". The ISO 4217 code is GBP (in English Great Britain pound, Libra of Great Britain). Occasionally the abbreviation UKP is seen, but this is incorrect. Crown Dependencies use their own codes (not ISO) when they wish to reflect their distinction. The resources are usually exchanged for pennies, so traders can refer to the sterling penny, GBX (sometimes BGp), when they list their prices. After the adoption of the euro by several countries, the pound became the oldest currency in the world. world still in use, and currently has the third largest share of reserve currencies worldwide, after the US dollar and the euro. The pound sterling is the fourth most traded currency in the international exchange market behind the dollar, the euro and the Japanese yen.After the adoption of the euro by several countries, the pound became the oldest currency in the world still in use, and currently has the third largest share of reserve currencies worldwide, after the US dollar and the euro. The pound sterling is the fourth most traded currency in the international exchange market behind the dollar, the euro and the Japanese yen. The laws of the legal currency in the UK are especially complex: according to the Royal House of the Currency, legal currency means "that a debtor can not be successfully sued for the suspension of payment if it pays in court with the legal tender currency." This does not mean that any ordinary transaction has to be made with the legal currency or Both parties are free to agree on any form of payment, either legal tender or any other form, in accordance with their wishes, in order to comply with the strict rules that govern the current legal currency. it is necessary, for example, to offer the exact amount owed because no change can be claimed, In England and Wales, tickets issued by the Bank of England they are legal tender, which means that they can be accepted as the payment of a debt; they do not have to be accepted, but the debtor would have a good legal defense against a claim for the suspension of payment of the debt. In Scotland and Northern Ireland, no banknotes are legal tender, and each bank issuing banknotes does so in the form of their own bills of exchange. In the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, local variations in banknotes are legal tender in their respective jurisdictions. The Scottish, Northern Irish, Canal Islands and British bills are sometimes rejected in stores when they are used. In England. British shopkeepers can refuse any form of payment, even if it is legal tender in that jurisdiction, because there is no debt when the offer of payment is made. When paying an account at a restaurant or other debt, the laws of legal tender do apply, but any reasonable method of payment of the debt (such as a credit card or check) is normally accepted. Tickets are issued by the four largest banks in Northern Ireland - the Bank of Ireland, the First Trust Bank (First Trust Bank), the Northern Bank (Northern Bank) and the Ulster Bank (Bank of Ulster). The banknotes printed in the Bank of Ireland, although they are of sterling pounds, are confused in England with the old Irish pound and frequently rejected. The only plastic ticket in the United Kingdom is printed by the Bank of the North. It's the £ 5 2000 commemorative ticket, which was printed in Australia. The Scottish banknotes are issued by the Bank of Scotland, the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Clydesdale Bank (Clydesdale Bank), but (as in Ireland's North) are not legal tender. Only the coins of the Royal Mint are legal tender in Scotland, and only the one and two pound coins are legal tender for an indefinite amount. This was not always the case, since during the Second World War the Scottish bills were converted into legal tender in 1939; this status was reversed on January 1, 1946. Some Bank of England notes were legal tender in Scotland and Northern Ireland; however, this status only applied to bills of less than five pounds, so after the Bank of England removed the one-pound bill in circulation in 1985, no circulating bills are affected by this clause.
The pound sterling.
As a monetary unit, the term pound originates from the value of the weight of one pound of silver of great purity known as sterling silver.
The sterling (with a basic unit that was the penny Tealby, instead of the pound) was introduced as the English currency by King Henry II in 1158, although the name of sterling was not used until later. The word sterling is from the old French sterling transformed into stiere in old English (strong, firm, immovable).
The sterling was originally a name for a silver penny of 1/240 pound. Originally a silver penny had a buying power slightly less than that of a modern pound. In modern times the pound has replaced the penny as the basic unit of change since inflation has continually eroded the value of the currency.
The sterling pound, established in 1560-1561 by Elizabeth I and her advisors, mainly Sir Thomas Gresham, who brought order to the financial chaos of the England Tudor that had been occasioned by the "Great Degradation" of the coin, which in turn provoked a debilitating inflation during the years from 1543 to 1551. By 1551, according to Fernand Braudel, the silver content of a penny had been reduced to one third of the total. The coins had become mere fiat currencies (as are modern currencies), and the exchange rate in Antwerp where English clothing was marketed in Europe had deteriorated. All currency in circulation was taken out of it to be reaffirmed with the highest standard, and paid at a discount.
The pound sterling maintained its intrinsic value - "a fetish in public opinion" Braudel called it - uniquely among European currencies, even after the United Kingdom officially adopted the gold standard, until after the First World War, enduring financial crises in 1621, in 1694-1696, when John Locke panned for the sterling pound as "an invariable fundamental unit" and again in 1774 and 1797. Not even the violent Civil War disorders devalued the pound sterling in the money markets of Europe. Braudel attributes England's easy credit to the restored currency, which was never devalued through the centuries, which gave contract security and a boost to financial superiority during the eighteenth century. The pound sterling has been the currency of the Bank of England since its inception in 1694.
The gold standard.
The pound moved unofficially from silver to gold standard thanks to an overvaluation of gold in England that attracted gold from abroad and caused a constant importation of the silver coin, despite a revaluation of gold in 1717 by Isaac Newton, master of the Royal Mint. The gold standard of de facto continued until its official adoption after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, in 1816. This lasted until the United Kingdom, in agreement with many other countries, abandoned the patron after the First World War in 1919. During During this period, one pound could be exchanged for 4,886 US dollars.
Some discussions took place after the International Monetary Conference of 1865 in Paris concerning the possibility of the United Kingdom joining the Latin Monetary Union, and a Royal Commission of International Coinage examined the issue, resulting in the decision against joining to the Monetary Union.
Before the First World War, the United Kingdom had one of the strongest economies in the world, retaining 40% of overseas investments in the world. However, at the end of the war, the country owed £ 850 million, mostly to the United States, with interests costing the country 40% of all government spending.
In an attempt to recover stability, in 1925, the gold exchange pattern was introduced that supposed a variation of the gold standard, under this system, the value of the currency was fixed at the price of gold, in the levels prior to the war, although the population could only exchange their money for gold bullion, instead of coins. This system was abandoned on September 21, 1931, during the Great Depression, and the pound was devalued by 25%.
The pound, like all other currencies in the world, no longer bears any relation to gold, silver or any other precious metal. The US dollar was the last currency to abandon gold, in 1971. The pound was made fully convertible in 1946 as a condition for receiving a US $ 3.75 billion loan after the Second World War.
The pound sterling was used as the currency of many parts of the British Empire. When creating the Commonwealth of Nations, the Commonwealth countries introduced their own currencies such as the Australian pound or the Irish pound, this led to create the so-called sterling area, where these currencies maintained a fixed relationship with the pound sterling.
The oldest currency still in circulation
The pound sterling, the official currency of the United Kingdom, has the privilege of being the oldest in the world that still continues in circulation. This happened after the adoption of the euro in the countries of the European Union. Its name comes from the Latin word "pound pondo" which refers to the unit of mass, this being the basic unit used in Roman times. After hundreds of years and four languages in contact: Latin (pondo), Anglo-Saxon (pund), Dutch (pond) and German (Pfund), we have "pound" in current English. In addition, the official symbol of the pound sterling is a stylized L (₤) due to its Latin origin. Here is an image of the traditional one pound coin today:
Why is it called sterling?
In England, between the period of the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, the coin of a penny was coined, which carried a small star (steorra, in English medium) as an ornament on the front. It is so that this word next to the ending "-ling" as diminutive, ended up deriving in "sterling". But that is not all. The complex system of change in those years dictated that 240 pennies on a scale equaled one unit of weight: one pound sterling. Then, with the passing of the years, when a coin was created that directly was worth 240 pennies, this was called "a pound sterling". This is how translated into Spanish we end up with "pound sterling". Look at this illustrative image of an exhibition at the London Tower.
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