Portuguese Escudo

Once upon a time, in Portugal, people used a special kind of money called the escudo. It was like their country's own special coins and bills! The word 'escudo' actually means 'shield' in Portuguese. That's because the coins often had a cool shield design on them, showing off Portugal's coat of arms. It was a way to carry a little piece of their country's history with them every day!

Before the escudo, Portugal used something called the 'real'. But in 1911, they decided to switch things up and introduce the escudo. It was like changing your favorite toy for a brand new, exciting one! The escudo was used for a super long time, until the year 2002, when Portugal joined many other countries in using the euro. That's over 90 years of escudos!

Just like dollars have cents, the escudo had smaller parts called centavos. You needed 100 centavos to make one whole escudo. So, if you had 50 centavos, it was like having half of an escudo. This made it easy to count and share money. The numbers on the money were written in a special way, with a symbol that looked a bit like a dollar sign, but it was for escudos!

The escudo was super important because it was the money people used to buy everything they needed in Portugal. From yummy pastries to toys, all transactions happened with escudos. It was the heart of their economy for almost a century. Even though it's not used anymore, it's a fascinating part of Portugal's story and how people lived their lives.