For almost two centuries, the people of the Azores and Madeira Islands had their own currency. Between 1750 and 1932, the island's currency was used as a form of transaction, different from the Real that circulated on the mainland.

António Miguel Trigueiros, an engineer by training, has recovered this history in the book "Nova História da Moeda Insulana 1750-1932", presented to the public at the Public Library and Regional Archive of Ponta Delgada.

"In our time, most people don't remember this anymore, it's something from the time of our great-grandparents. For more than a century and a half, the monetary circulation in the Azores was different from the monetary circulation in the continent. And it was a strange thing because today we have the Euro and no one would think that a Euro here in the Azores was worth 20% less than the Euro circulating in Berlin or Austria. But that's what happened," explains António Miguel Trigueiros.

A situation that eventually arose from necessity, since the Azores were on the transatlantic routes of ships and vessels of various nationalities, which ended up transacting goods in Spanish, Brazilian, and British currencies, among others. "And that's how it was for many years: the islands had no other currency than the currency that travelers brought. At a certain point, the Azoreans and the Madeirans asked the government for their own currency, a currency that had its own stamp, so that the currency would not leave the islands", different from the Real, which circulated on the mainland.

Therefore, a different, weaker currency was created, thus coining, for the first time, the term "weak currency". And weaker because "if the currency here was worth less, people would not be tempted to take it to the continent".

The first experiment was a coin with different engravings but equal weight, which ended up failing. "What we wanted was a different coin," Trigueiros explains, both in its metallic body (weight, diameter, thickness) and its numismatic face (engravings).

In the 18th and 19th centuries, coins were worth what they weighed. "When you made a coin with less weight than another, it was worth less. And that's what they did for the Azores: silver and copper coins with 20% less of the metal weight. So they devalued the body of the coin and increased the face value. On the mainland, for example, a silver coin turned for 240 reis, here, the same coin turned for 300. And it was engraved 300! This difference was fundamental: the weak islander coin was born weak in the metal body and weak in the numismatic engraving", points out the author.

The first records date back to 1750, but more common from 1794. The monetary solution took hold, took root, in such a way that the various attempts to put an end to the island's currency were rejected.

"There were several attempts, throughout the 19th century, to unify the Azorean currency with the continental currency, and the negative reaction always came from the Azorean living forces. Throughout the constitutionalist parliamentary process of the 19th  century, whenever there was a deliberation in parliament to end the weak Azorean currency, the Azorean deputies opposed it," recounts António Miguel Trigueiros.

A fierce defense that had, as a remarkable episode, the opposition registered in 1879, when Madeira accepted the unification of its currency, at the proposal of the Minister of Finance, António Serpa Pimentel. "The Azorean deputies would not allow it! There was even insurrection in the streets of São Miguel, the population went to the streets to protest that they were going to kill their children with the new currency. They thought taxes were going to be increased by 20%.

It was only in 1932 that the island's currency came to an end, by decree of the then Minister of Finance, António Oliveira Salazar, who decreed the extinction of the weak currency and reduced taxes by 20%. The solution, curiously, that António Serpa Pimentel also wanted to implement in 1879, but without success. This story has never been told in detail in its entirety," says António Miguel Trigueiros.

The work is the result of research done over dozens of years in regional archives in the Azores and Madeira, as well as in Lisbon, namely in the archives of the Bank of Portugal, and the Court of Auditors, as well as a survey of all the information and correspondence that existed between the Treasury in the Azores, the Mint, and the Minister of Finance. "This book is a very extensive, very complete documental narrative, accompanied by a numismatic narrative, that is, with a reading of the coins themselves. Nothing similar has ever been published, and it is a work that I hope will stand as a reference of the region's history."

"Regional government should propose commemorative coins"

The book's author believes that the Azorean islands currency could "be reborn" through commemorative coins. Recalling that monetary policy today is dictated by the European Central Bank – "the euro is worth the same in French Guiana, in the Azores, and in Brussels" –, António Miguel Trigueiros states that this unique history could be recovered in a different way, viewing the coin as a piece of art, a vehicle for cultural expression, because of its numismatic face. "On the Mainland, Euro coins are being made to commemorate events that have no great historical value. And the Regional Government would have a lot to gain if it started studying and proposing to the Republic the issue of coins commemorating Azorean themes."