Guadeloupe franc
Encyclopedia
The franc was the currency of Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe...

 until 2002. It was subdivided into 100 centime
Centime
Centime is French for "cent", and is used in English as the name of the fraction currency in several Francophone countries ....

s
.

History

The franc was introduced following France's
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 recovery of the Islands from the U.K. in 1816. It replaced the livre
Guadeloupe livre
The livre was the currency of Guadeloupe until 1816. It was subdivided into 20 sous, each of 12 deniers, with the escalin worth 15 sous.-History:...

. The French franc
French franc
The franc was a currency of France. Along with the Spanish peseta, it was also a de facto currency used in Andorra . Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money...

 circulated, alongside banknotes issued specifically for French Guyana between 1848 and 1961 and notes issued for Guadeloupe, French Guiana
French Guiana
French Guiana is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department located on the northern Atlantic coast of South America. It has borders with two nations, Brazil to the east and south, and Suriname to the west...

 and Martinique
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...

(collectively referred to as the French Antilles) between 1961 and 1975.

Banknotes

In 1848, the Banque de Pret introduced notes in denominations of 5, 10, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 francs. The Colonial Treasury issued 1 franc Bons de Caisse from 1854, followed by 2 francs in 1864 and 50 centimes, 5 and 10 francs in 1884.

In 1887, the Banque de la Guadeloupe introduced 500 francs notes, followed by 50 centimes, 1, 2, 25 and 100 francs in 1920 and 5 francs in 1928. A final series of notes was introduced by the Banque de la Guadeloupe in 1942, in denominations of 5, 25, 100, 500 and 1000 francs.

In 1944, the Caisse Centrale de la France d'Outre Mer (Central Cashier for Overseas France) introduced notes for 10, 20, 100 and 1000 francs. In 1947, a new series of notes was introduced in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1000 and 5000. These notes shared their designs with the notes issued for French Guyana and Martinique.

In 1961, 100, 500, 1000 and 5000 francs notes were overstamped with their values in nouveax francs (new francs): 1, 5, 10 and 50 nouveax francs. The same year, a new series of notes was introduced with the names of Guadeloupe, French Guyana and Martinique on them. In 1963, the Institut d'Emission des Départements d'Outre-Mer (Institute for Emissions in the Overseas Departments) took over paper money production in the three departments, issuing 10 and 50 nouveax francs notes. These were followed in 1964 by notes for 5, 10, 50 and 100 francs, the word nouveaux having been dropped.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK