Timeline

• 10.07.1852
• Ordinance on the prohibition of mutilated and undervalued Central and Latin American coinage; effective immediately (?)
• 12.09.1859
• Government authorization of the issuance of copper subsidiary coins of ¹⁄₁₂₀, ¹⁄₂₄₀ US Dollar by the municipality of León
• 27.10.1860
• Ordinance on the legal tender status of US-American silver coins at a rate of 1.20 US Dollars = 1 Peso (accounting unit); effective immediately
• 29.03.1869
• Ordinance on the prohibition of cocoa beans (referred to as "chilacate") as small change substitutes (the accepted rate was 1 Real in silver = 160 beans); effective immediately (?) but could not be implemented

Timeline

• 16.03.1870
• Government decree on the creation of a national currency with legal tender status for US-American gold and silver coins (at the rate of 1860); effective immediately
• 07.07.1870
• Rating of circulating foreign (British, French, Costa Rican, Colombian, Chilean and Peruvian) gold and silver coinage
• 1877-1880
• Start of issuance of subsidiary coins:
  - Around 1877: Re-issuance of the León coinage of 1859 as 1, ½ Cent
  - 16.11.1878: Authorization of a copper coin of 1 Cent
  - 29.03.1880: Authorization of silver coins of 20, 10, 5 Cents.
• 1879-1883
• Start of issuance of paper money by the Treasury:
  - 02.04.1879: Government decree on the issuance of 100'000 Pesos in denominations of 1 Peso; declaration of forced circulation on 21.09.1879
  - 15.09.1880: Government decree on the issuance of 250'000 Pesos in denominations of 1 Peso
  - 21.10.1881: Government decree on the issuance of 100'000 Pesos in denominations of 100, 50, 25, 5, 1 Pesos; declaration of forced circulation on 21.11.1881
  - 30.06.1883: Government decree on the issuance of 100'000 Pesos in denominations of 100, 50, 25 Pesos
• 1888-1896
• Issuance of paper money by commercial banks:
  - 23.02.1888: Constitution of the Bank of Nicaragua
  - 06.11.1888: Constitution of the Agricultural-Mercantile Bank. Note: Their notes were referred to as "guacamoles" (color of the 50 Pesos) and "chancheros" (depiction of a pig on the 25 Pesos), which both became synonymous for low-valued notes.
  - 26.03.1896: Presidential decree on the prohibition of private money issuance and demonetization of the commercial bank notes; effective ??.??.1896

Valuation Regimes

• 1870-1886
• Fixed rate against US Dollar; the paper money began depreciating against species in late 1885
• 1886-1913
• Variable effective rate

Timeline

• 01.09.1911
• Contract between Nicaragua and the New York based banks Brown Brothers & Co. and W. Seligman & Co. on the creation of the Bank of Nicaragua as central and governmental bank; ratified 29.12.1911, effective upon constitution of the bank on 08.01.1912
• 20.03.1912
• Law [Ley de conversión monetaria] on the currency reform; effective 23.03.1913 (by decree of 28.02.1913)
• 23.03.1913
• Start of currency exchange:
  - 23.03.1913: Start of issuance of the new banknotes and coins
  - 31.10.1915: Demonetization of the former currency, the legal 6-months' conversion period could not be kept and got extended several times.
• 02.01.1934
• Ordinance on the exchange of the circulating banknotes:
  - Old notes were exchanged at par into identical but overprinted notes
  31.05.1934: End of exchange period and demonetization of unmarked notes.
• 26.10.1940
• Law [Ley monetaria], replaces the fixed gold parity of the 1912 law with a variable one that was in the authority of the central bank; effective immediately
• 23.05.1979
• Law [Ley monetaria, no. 78], revised the 1940 law; effective immediately

Valuation Regimes

• 1913-1988
• Fixed rate against US Dollar

Timeline

• 14.02.1988
• Government decree [No. 304] on the currency reform (referred to as "Operación Berta"); effective immediately
• 15.02.1988
• Start of currency exchange:
  - 15.02.1988: Start of issuance of the new banknotes
  - Per person a maximum of 10'000'000 Córdobas (1913) could be exchanged and only notes of 500 Córdobas (1913) were accepted
  - 17.02.1988: End of exchange period and demonetization of the former currency.

Valuation Regimes

• 1988-1990
• Variable rate, hyper-inflationary

Timeline

• 01.05.1990
• Parliamentary resolution [No. CD-BCN-XXXII-2-90] on the creation of the "gold" Córdoba as unit of account pegged to the the US Dollar; effective immediately
• 26.6.1990
• Ordinance [No. 23] on the issuance of banknotes; effective 13.08.1990
• 13.08.1990
• Start of currency exchange:
  - 13.08.1990: Start of issuance of the new banknotes, circulated in parallel with the former notes for which the rating was adjusted on a daily basis
  - 03.03.1991: Freeze of the conversion rate at 1 : 5'000'000
  - 30.04.1991: Demonetization of the former currency.
• 06.01.1992
• Law [Ley monetaria, no. 1], legislated the 1990 resolution but suppressed the "de oro" from the currency name; effective immediately

Valuation Regimes

• 1991-1993
• Fixed rate against US Dollar
• 1988-1990
• Variable rate, hyper-inflationary