Today, few people will remember what lat is. However, more recently, it was the state currency of the Republic of Latvia.
Short story
The Latvian lat was first put into circulation in 1922, shortly after when the country gained independence from the Russian Empire. In 1941, Latvia was annexed to the USSR, so its national currency was withdrawn from circulation.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, these banknotes were introduced again in Latvia. The meaning of the word "lat" is quite simple. The name of the currency comes from the name of the country itself and the people. This is an abbreviated interpretation of the name of the state.
In 2013, Latvia replaced the lat with the euro, as it became a full member of the European Union.
Description
What is lat? To answer this question, it is not enough to say that it is the former national currency of Latvia. It is necessary to examine in more detail the history of this currency.
Until 2013, on the territory of the Republic of Latvia, paper banknotes with a nominal value of five, ten, twenty, fifty, one hundred and five hundred lats, as well as metal coins with a face value of one to fifty centimes, were in circulation. There were also banknotes in denominations of 1 and 2 Latvian lats.
The first coins were minted in Switzerland. Then their manufacture was carried out in England. Five, ten and twenty centimes were minted from copper, nickel and zinc. Fifty centimes, one and two armor were made of cupronickel. There was also a bimetallic version of a two-plate coin, the center of which was made of an alloy of copper, nickel and zinc, and the encircling ring was made of nickel silver.
The size of paper notes was 130 mm in length and 65 mm in width. On the banknote of 5 lats the oak was represented, on ten - the Daugava river. On a twenty-dollar bill is the building of the Ethnographic Museum, located on the shores of Lake Jugla. The fifty-fifty banknote was decorated with the image of a sailboat. On a bill in one hundred the portrait of the writer and public figure Krishjanis Baron was represented. The banknote of five hundred lats was decorated with the image of a girl in a national headdress.
Conclusion
The article answered the question "What is lat?" Today, not everyone knows the answer to it. Even when the currency was still in use, few heard about it outside the borders of a small Baltic state.
Latvian lat was a symbol of the sovereignty of the state and people. Now the country's government is doing its best to emphasize that Latvia is part of Europe, therefore the national currency has been abolished in favor of the euro. At the same time, it was also a pragmatic decision contributing to the economic development of the state.
As already mentioned, today few people in Europe will remember what lat is. And after several generations, perhaps the Latvians themselves will regard this out-of-circulation currency as something far away, long gone into oblivion.