Timeline

• 19.02.1670
• French royal decree on the production of coinage for exclusive use in the "American colonies on land and water" under King Louis XIV, creating the French Colonial Livre / 20 Sols / 12 Deniers; effective by law of 24.03.1670
• 18.11.1672
• Ordinance on the rating of French money at 100 French Livres = 133⅓ French Colonial Livres; effective immediately
• 14.06.1726
• Ordinance on the rating of French money at 100 French Livres = 150 French Colonial Livres; effective immediately
• 19.01.1731
• Ordinance on the issuance of silver subsidiary coinage of 12, 6 French Sols (= 18, 9 French Colonial Sols) for all Windward Islands possessions
• ??.01.1763
• Ordinance on the counterstamping with a crowned "C" of worn silver coins and issuance as subsidiary coinage of 2½ French Colonial Sols for all Windward Islands possessions
• ??.04.1766
• Ordinance on the issuance of subsidiary coinage of 18, 9 French Colonial Sols in silver and 1 French Colonial Sol in copper for all Windward Islands possessions; not implemented:
  - The silver coins were not minted, while the copper coins were but not issued due to lack of acceptance
  - The copper coins were (re-)issued by ordinance of 28.09.1793 after counterstamping with "RF", their value was set to ¼ Escalin = 3¾ French Colonial Sols.
• 10.12.1779
• Ordinance on the issuance of billon subsidiary coinage of 2½ French Colonial Sols for all Windward Islands possessions, made from blank planchets counterstamped with a crowned "C" (modelled after the 1763 counterstamps)
• 10.11.1781
• Rating of the Spanish Dollar (8 Spanish Real in silver) at 5²⁄₅ French Livres = 8¹⁄₁₀ French Colonial Livres
• 24.01.1789
• Ordinance on the issuance of billon subsidiary coinage of 2½ French Colonial Sols for all Windward Islands and Leeward Islands (Saint-Domingue) possessions; not implemented
• 01.09.1797
• Issuance of cut foreign coins under the British occupation:
  - Spanish Dollar (8 Reals) into quarters, rated at 3 Escalins = 45 French Colonial Sols
  - Spanish 4 Reals into quarters, rated at 1½ Escalins = 22½ French Colonial Sols
  - Spanish 4 Reals into 12 parts, rated at ½ Escalin = 7½ French Colonial Sols
  - Spanish 2 Reals into quarters, rated at ¾ Escalin = 11¼ French Colonial Sols.
• 26.09.1805
• [FR:4 Vendémiaire XIV] Adoption of the 1803 ratings of Guadeloupe:
  - Rating of Portuguese gold coins by weight: 18 French Colonial Livres = 1 Parisian gros (= ¹⁄₆₄ Mark) gold coins, i.e. Portuguese Dobloon (6'400 Reis in gold) at about 67½ French Colonial Livres
  - Rrating of French money increased to 100 French Francs = 166⅔ French Colonial Livres.
• 12.04.1817
• Governor's ordinance
  - increases the rating of French money to 100 French Francs = 185 French Colonial Livres
  - demonetizes all cut silver coins at a rate of 10 French Colonial Livres to the Parisian ounce of fine silver.

Timeline

• 30.08.1826
• Ordinance (for Guadeloupe and Martinique) on the adoption of the French Franc as unit of account; effective immediately (?)
• 30.08.1826
• Ordinance (for Guadeloupe and Martinique) on the import of subsidiary coins of 10, 5 Centimes (issued for general colonial use in all territories) and of 10 Centimes from French Guiana; effective immediately (?)
• 24.02.1828
• Ordinance (for Guadeloupe and Martinique) on the demonetization of the former subsidiary coins of 2 French Sols = 3 French Colonial Sols at 7½ (French) Centimes; effective immediately (?)
• 08.06.1844
• Ordinance (for Guadeloupe and Martinique) on the demonetization of the 10 Centimes from French Guiana; effective immediately (?)
• 30.04.1849
• French law on the creation of colonial banks in the Caribbean and Africa for the facilitation of the compensation of settlers for the abolition of slavery; effective immediately
• 11.07.1851
• French law on the constitution of colonial banks in Guadeloupe, Guiana, Martinique and Réunion (after 23.12.1851 subject to the 1849 law on colonial banks) with an issuance privilege for paper money (extended twice until 1874); the Bank of Martinique in Saint-Pierre opened for business on 05.01.1853
• 23.04.1855
• Ordinance (for Guadeloupe and Martinique) on the demonetization of all foreign coinage and exchange into state treasury bills; effective immediately:
  - The bills were demonetized on 31.05.1868 (the original date of 31.05.1858 could not be kept due to lack of specie).
• 24.06.1874
• Law on the reform of the charters of the French colonial banks renewing the 20 years' privilege for the issuance of colonal paper money; effective 11.09.1874 (extended regularly and made unlimited from 01.01.1902 onward):
  - The Bank of Martinique started banknote issuance in 1874.
• 18.08.1884
• Ordinance (for Guadeloupe and Martinique) on the issuance of state treasury bills; effective immediately:
  - The bills were complemented in Martinique by metallic tokens of 1, ½ Franc by ordinance of 19.12.1896
  - The bills were demonetized in Martinique on 31.12.1900 by ordinance of 31.12.1899.

Valuation Regimes

• 1826-1962
• Identical to the French Franc (1795), the convertibility of the Martinique paper money was limited

Timeline

• 27.12.1958
• French Law [No. 58-1341] on the currency reform in France; effective immediately (but not implemented in the Caribbean territories).
• 07.01.1959
• Ordinance [No. 59-74] on the establishment a joint issuing institute for the overseas departments (Guyana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Réunion); effective immediately
• 14.09.1962
• Ordinance [No. 62-1093] on the implementation of the French currency reform of 1958 in the Caribbean overseas departments Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique; effective 01.01.1963
• 01.01.1963
• Start of currency exchange:
  - 01.01.1963: Start of issuance of new banknotes and coins (the previous ones were not demonetized)
  - 30.12.1964: Ordinance [No. 64-1347] on the abolition of the "New" in the currency name (banknotes with this denomination were not demonetized); effective 01.01.1965

Valuation Regimes

• 1963-1974
• Identical to the French Franc (1958), the convertibility of the Caribbean paper money was limited

Timeline

• 28.12.1974
• French finance law [No. 74-1114] on the transfer of the money issuance privilege from the Currency Institute for the French Overseas Departments to the Bank of France; effective 31.12.1974
• 01.01.1975
• Start of currency exchange:
  - 01.01.1975: Start of issuance of French banknotes (no local coins had been issued)
  - 31.03.1975: End of exchange period and demonetization of the former paper money.