In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, many European currencies were replaced by the euro. At the same time, currencies, the history of which lasted for centuries, ceased to exist. Among them, the French currency is the franc. It existed for almost two centuries, and the history of the French currency itself has a little more than 640 years.
Old woman deep
A distinctive feature of the franc can be considered that its name is not tied to any measure of weights. From the very beginning, the franc existed as a monetary unit. The year of its appearance can be considered 1360. The national currency of France got its name in honor of King John II, freed from the English captivity. The first franc was also called “equestrian”; on the obverse of the coin was a horseman (king) on a horse. At the time of its appearance, the franc was equated with the Turkish livre - a coin that existed for almost a century and served as a means of payment throughout the country. The first francs were issued only for 20 years, and the livery served as a means of payment for another four and a half centuries, but thanks to the huge popularity they were already called francs. The French currency received its second birth in 1575, when silver francs came into circulation.
Age of Change
The franc was finally fixed as the main currency of the state after the overthrow of the monarchies, then decimal currency was fixed (crushing the franc into one hundred centimes). At the same time, new money was issued almost eight years after the revolution, under Napoleon Bonaparte. Surprisingly, they kept their value for almost a century, until 1903. During the 19th century, the French currency experienced many changes in government. In the second half of the century, Belgium and Switzerland created their own francs, taking French as the basis. And a little later, the Latin Monetary Union was created. This was the first attempt to create the first interstate currency on the continent. The union is based on the most stable currency in France. Before the euro was almost a half century. In connection with the beginning of the First World War, many European states, including France, refused to provide gold franc. At this time, military spending was offset by the release of new funds to the market. All this could not but affect the franc - for the period from 1915 to 1921, its purchasing power decreased by almost 70%. Subsequently, the franc continued to fall in price. And then World War II broke out. And in the occupied country, occupation marks were used as cash. Of course, their course was significantly overstated.
Post war franc
In 1960, a denomination was held in France, led by Charles de Gaulle. And again a new franc appeared, equal to one hundred old. It is not difficult to calculate that one old franc now equaled a centime. Actually, for almost two years it was, exactly until the new centimes were minted. And in 1979, an event takes place that influenced the fate of the franc. France entered the European currency system. Actually, the French currency before the euro was not able to regain its former heights. The purchasing power of the 1999 franc fell eight times compared with 1960. This is what can be considered surprising: in spite of everything, the new franc lasted four decades, many residents of the state, right up to the transition to the single European currency, recounted the prices of old francs.
Frank left, Frank stayed
On January 1, 1999, the franc gave way to a single European currency. Although the former currency of France has disappeared from circulation, it has remained in countries that have ever worked closely with it. And this applies not only to the overseas possessions of France, where so far the French Pacific franc is used as the currency for calculation. Until recently, in the world there are over twenty varieties of francs. So, the Swiss currency remained independent. The Swiss franc also walks in Liechtenstein. And in Africa there are as many as 14 states whose currency is the CFA franc, and six have their own independent francs. However, the currency of France remained in the hearts of the inhabitants of the country. The merchants of one of the towns organized the sale of various goods for francs, and buyers flew into the city from all over the country. However, this did not last long, at the end of February 2012 it became impossible to exchange French francs for the euro. The French franc left, leaving its mark on the history of the country and the world.