The dollar and its symbol are so well-known worldwide today that many countries use them to represent their currencies. The US dollar specifically is an international reserve currency, used in the trading of goods and commodities. Where did it all originate, though?

The American colonies were settled by people of several nations. The Dutch brought with them a silver coin, called the leeuwen-daalder, which derived from the Joachimsthaler, a silver coin minted in a specific region of Bohemia.



The name dollar was an English transliteration of "daalder" and "thaler" and applied to many coins used later in the colonies. These coins and those of other European nations were minted to have roughly the same weight and composition of silver, 29.2 grams, so that they were interchangeable in trans-Atlantic trade.

Many American colonists carried these various dollar coins all the way to the time of the American Revolution and the founding of other countries across the New World. The one that gained the most prominence (and pirate lore) was the Spanish dollar. This coin had the value of 8 reales and gained the nickname "pieces of eight". In Spanish, this was "peso de ocho", the origin of the peso denomination. The Spanish dollar became the first world currency, traded as far away as Asia and all through the New World and Europe. It was still legal tender in the United States until 1857.

The reverse side of the coin (and many later Spanish coins) featured a prominent image of the Pillars of Hercules in the Gibralter region. If you look at the left pillar and the ribbon flowing over it, what do you see?



If you saw "$", then you are correct. This coin was the origin of the dollar sign!

When the United States became a nation, the official currency was based on the silver content of that Spanish coin. Coins of other denominations were ratios of the dollar coin, based on percentages (or "cents" for short). Since they were all ratios of that specific Spanish coin, the name of the nation's currency became the dollar. As other nations were later founded, many adopted this ratio of the Spanish dollar coin as their own currencies, as well. Today, over 40 nations call their own currencies "the dollar".