Time Period: 1600-1975

Timeline

  • 31.03.1688
  • Resolution of the Portuguese Overseas Council on the introduction of Portuguese copper coins in all the colonies; effective immediately
  • 09.05.1840
  • Law on the issuance of general colonial copper coins of 80, 40, 20 Réis for use in Mozambique; effective immediately
  • 16.05.1864
  • Law on the charter for the (Portuguese) National Overseas Bank with a 15 years' banking monopoly and issuance privilege for paper money in five provinces of the colonial empire (Cape Verde, São Tomé, Angola, Mozambique, India) but not in Macau; effective by decree of 12.08.1864:
    - 02.01.1865: Opening of the Portuguese head office in Lisbon
    - 04.10.1865: Opening of the first Angolan subsidiary in Luanda
    - ??.10.1865: Opening of the first Cape Verdean subsidiary in Praia (São Tiago)
    - 01.01.1868: Opening of the first São Toméan subsidiary in São Tomé
    - ??.??.1868: Opening of the first Indian subsidiary in Nova Goa
    - 27.01.1876: Opening of the first Mozambican subsidiary in Ilha de Moçambique.
  • 26.01.1876
  • Law on the extension of the National Overseas Bank's banking monopoly by 10 years (until 1889) and issuance privilege for paper money by 20 years (until 1899); effective immediately
  • 27.04.1901
  • Law on the extension of the National Overseas Bank's charter (ratifying a the treaty of 30.01.1901 between the government and the bank), including the issuance privilege for paper money but restricting the banking monopoly to the west African colonies (Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea, São Tomé); effective immediately:
    - ??.08.1902: Opening of the first Macau subsidiary in Macau
    - ??.??.1903: Opening of the first Guinean subsidiary in Bolama
    - 04.04.1912: Opening of the first Timorean subsidiary in Dili.
  • 18.09.1913
  • Ordinance [No. 141] on the implementation of the 1911 Portuguese currency reform in the colonies except Macau (including Timor); effective 01.01.1914
  • 30.05.1919
  • Decree [No. 5809] on the extension of the National Overseas Bank's charter; effective immediately
  • 07.05.1921
  • Ordinance [No. 13] of the High Commissioner for Angola on the suspension of the National Overses Bank's issuance privilege for paper money; effective 12.05.1921:
    - The privilege was subsequently transferred to the Bank of Angola (established in 1926).
  • 26.07.1929
  • Decree [No. 17154] on the extension of the National Overseas Bank's charter for 30 years (until 1959); effective immediately
  • 09.05.1953
  • Law [No. 2061] on the banking in the Portuguese overseas territories (after the 1951 constitutional reform of the colonial empire); effective immediately
  • 25.05.1953
  • Decree [No. 39221] on the adaptation of the National Overseas Bank's charter to the general banking law; effective 08.09.1953 by decree [No. 39353]
  • 27.06.1953
  • Law [No. 2066], organic act of the Portuguese overseas territories, §73.II prescribed the unification of all colonial currencies; effective in stages per section:
    - 31.12.1958: Angola switched from the Angolan Angolar to the Angolan Escudo
    - 31.12.1958: India switched from the Portuguese Indian Rupee to the Portuguese Indian Escudo
    - 02.01.1960: Timor switched from the Timorese Pataca to the Timorese Escudo.
  • 08.11.1961
  • Decree [No. 44016] on the creation of the "Portuguese Economic Area (Espaço Económico Português)" for the economic integration between Portugal and the overseas territories; effective 01.07.1962.
    - 06.11.1971: Decree [No. 478] on the reform of the Portuguese Economic Area (meaning a de facto revocation); effective immediately
    - 25.02.1976: Government resolution [No. DD1473] on the liquidation of the assets of the Economic Area (and Portuguese Overseas); effective immediately.
  • 17.11.1962
  • Decree [No. 44703] on the creation of a monetary community ("Zona do Escudo") between Portugal and the overseas territories and the establishment of the Monetary Fund of the Escudo Zone; effective 01.01.1963
    - 01.07.1963: Start of operations of the Monatary Fund
    - 15.12.1971: Decree [No. 553] on the reform of the Escudo Zone (meaning a de facto revocation); effective immediately
    - 23.07.1980: Decree [No. 317] on the formal dissolution of the Monetary Fund; effective 05.08.1980.
  • 20.02.1963
  • Decree [No. 44891] on the adaptation of the National Overseas Bank's charter to the conditions of the Economic Area and the Escudo Zone; effective immediately