PORTUGAL, Sancho II, 1223-48, dinheiro, no date

Description

Sancho II devoted his energy to conquering territory from the Muslims. In the course of that endeavor he alienated church, merchants, and peasants. Civil war developed when nobles invited Sancho’s brother, Afonso, to usurp. Sancho fled to Spain and died.

There were coins issued by Portuguese towns in ancient times. In the middle ages Portuguese coins resembled contemporary Spanish coins, with small billon (base silver) minors. During the colonial period an influx of gold and silver raised standards of living, but over time, Spain turned out to have a better economic position.

By “Modern World Coins” we mean here, generally, the round, flat, shiny metal objects that people have used for money and still do. “Modern,” though, varies by location. There was some other way they were doing their economies, and then they switched over to “modern coins,” then they went toward paper money, now we’re all going toward digital, a future in which kids look at a coin and say “What’s that?” We’ll say: “We used to use those to buy things.” Kid will ask “How?”