Why Some Former British Colonies Use Dollars

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In the UK, they use the pound. So why do some of their former colonies, from Canada to Australia to Hong Kong, use dollars instead?
MUSIC:
"The Wild West" by Ross Bugden
"Working It" by Jingle Punks
SOURCES:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pound_s...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_A...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austral...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zea...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straits...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapo...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Ko...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar
*Just because I have sources doesn't mean my research in infallible. Though I aim for as much accuracy as I can manage, there are likely some facts I have gotten wrong.
VIDEOS TO WATCH:
“The Best Banknote in the World!” by BrainCraft ( • The Best Banknote in t... )
“Dollar Bill and Australians Keep The Wheels Of Industry Turning” by NFSA Films ( • Dollar Bill and Austra... )
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[@KhAnubis]

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[@CommunistCreeper]

KhAnubis ok love you

[@eustache_dauger]

5:39 with exceptions to the period of the Japanese Occupation (1942-1945), Sarawak used the Sarawak Dollar between 1858 until 1953, when it was finally replaced with the Malaya & British Borneo Dollar

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

I use the North Korean Won because we won the world

[@justsomeone4347]

If you mean a chunk of land the world, then you're right.

[@elvolvasky69]

Best comment ever

[@coolseanlee1974]

South Korean: We use the South Korean Won because we won you.

[@rock3tcatU233]

North Korea is still the best Korea according to Korea magazine.

[@nytrex_yt7417]

Amateurs, middle korea is best korea

[@jjosephs6521]

I thought Australia's currency was the Dollarydoo.

[@jacklong1844]

Close enough.

[@AzzrudinJamil]

No, it's Dollarydoodeedoo

[@Skulduggery_P]

Its Dollarydoo, as confirmed by an Australian bogan

[@stevencooper4422]

900 DOLLARYDOOS!!??

[@jaydentownsend5402]

We were going to call it Australs but we didnt because it sounded too close to nostril

[@kauske]

I still say missed opportunities are: Dollaredoos Freedom Bucks Kanukistan Kopeks Kiwi Koins

[@theartofwarapplied1738]

I vote for kiwi koins!

[@monika.alt197]

Kiwi koins

[@epRivera]

I'm disappointed in my country for not naming the currency "freedom bucks"

[@rabbitobsessed3921]

I'm disappointed that Australia doesn't use dollaroos

[@alphabetaomega265]

Kiwikwid

[@JJMcCullough]

"New Zealand, Australia's Canada" XD

[@jeryndavelauan7525]

how's in Canada eh?

[@cameronburke8002]

Hello JJ

[@raminbt8255]

Even though I support the NDP I really like your show

[@cameronburke8002]

@@raminbt8255 still better than Quebec Solidaire and Parti Quebecois..

[@barvdw]

Tbh, I think he stole it from John Oliver.

[@ferdinanddelidlum]

Defenestrate the snow golems!

[@TheCannibull]

yes

[@Maurcusj777]

Wait what! That's just rude! Although as long as you don't do it in Prague. We don't need anymore of THOSE.

[@tymgamerz]

@@Maurcusj777 what are you taking about

[@ryan_n05]

@@tymgamerz hehe you didn't do something that you should've

[@bill-zy6dg]

@@tymgamerz There were two Defenestrations at Prague already

[@flimpeenflarmpoon1353]

British people use pounds as weight too, kind of. We half and half when it comes to metric and imperial.

[@fabianreusch4870]

Even in German you can say "Pfund" as a measurement of weight... It's Not official but many older people use it still over kg

[@Hollywood2021]

We’re still 70/30 in the states...metric is taught pretty thoroughly here but the imperial system is still the standard. We colonists are always resisting lol

[@kauske]

Canada sort of has a 50/50 too, but you do sort of need to know Imperial, since our biggest trade partner to the south is not officially metric. There's a high chance you will visit or otherwise do business with the US, so speedometers have MPH, schools teach both and how to convert, etc. At least most industry in the US has converted though, as well as just about anything scientific.

[@GAIUSJAKE]

"Imperial is inferior" *uses literally stone*

[@Chrischi4598]

Everyone makes jokes of the US because of their measurement system Britain nervously stands next to them hoping not to be noticed

[@SilvanaDil]

I love what this "New Zealand, Australia's Canada" says about the U.S. and Canada.

[@murraystewartj]

Us Canucks and, I suspect, most Kiwis would agree. We know quality over blowhards.

[@SilvanaDil]

@@murraystewartj - If you knew quality, you'd be in the other country. Quantity of people is one factor which leads to quality of museums, theme parks, universities, having more than one road connecting east and west coasts....

[@williamevans7454]

Canada dosent really like America

[@scootergrant8683]

And Australia is just USA attempt number 2 to Britain.

[@kiwitrainguy]

New Zealand is Australia if it were run by Marge Simpson. "It's so clean and bland. I'm home!"

[@UsefulCharts]

"Story of Canada in a nutshell." Yup.

[@Ratchet4647]

UsefulCharts Pleasure seeing you here ;)

[@tymgamerz]

Oh no the war..... 1812! aannnndddd also 1813, 1814, 1815 dont forget about those guys!

[@theplotarmoredtitan5781]

Wow! Another channel commenting to another channel!

[@MrSiddharthaSaha]

@@tymgamerz canada did not do it. the Brits did.

[@kingstarscream320]

@@MrSiddharthaSaha The Canadians also fought in the war of 1812

[@sean..L]

I’d honestly be fine with using The Canadian Pound Sterling.

[@JJMcCullough]

I'd be fine using the US DOLLAR

[@sean..L]

@@JJMcCullough Of course you would.

[@Ratchet4647]

J.J. McCullough Pleasure seeing you here JJ! ;)

[@Fatihturk0071]

@@JJMcCullough Traitor to the crown. OFF WITH HIS HEAD!

[@bigsmoke8571]

@@JJMcCullough you are weird i bet you shit the bed

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Mr. Krabs also makes money in dollars

[@Scrotonious]

I swear I keep seeing your comments all over the place

[@moonbear2130]

Merplop fr tho

[@username65585]

The spanish dolar was one of the most used coins in the US until the coinage act of 1857 forbade the use of foreign coins.

[@dennis771]

username that makes no sense

[@username65585]

@@dennis771 Coins used to mean specific masses of precious metals. It didn't matter what country the coin was minted in as long as the metal content was the same.

[@thesilverreich3947]

I thought that Americans use the Mexican paso because America looks like the United States of grater Mexico nowadays

[@kiwitrainguy]

@@dennis771 I think you meant to say "that makes no cents".

[@dennis771]

@@username65585 wake up man you are dreaming

[@Corporis]

So you're saying, if I wanted to, I don't know, defenestrate the snow golems or something, I'd need to do it pounds?

[@corgimations]

Corporis Yeah.

[@darioj606]

Defenestrate the snow golems

[@henryviii6341]

Sterling sign is from ancient Rome. Libra £. that’s also why we use imperial measurements like feet and inches. The last Roman Legion did not leave Britain as ordered by Rome but instead stay behind and the currency continue to be used as did imperial measurements. We kind of got used to it.

[@maximklitschko]

Love your vids man !!! Keep making more

[@IainEmslie]

Canada didn't break off from Britain in 1867 it just formed confederation.

[@MrSeekerOfPeace]

Basically this. But this idiot doesn't understand history. Breaking off would imply severing ties. And that just simply wasn't the case.

[@keithwatson1384]

@@MrSeekerOfPeace remained part of the Empire until at least 1948, arguably 1981, arguably still is in the Empire as it's a Commonwealth Realm!

[@MrSeekerOfPeace]

@@keithwatson1384 the Dominion of Canada specifically waited a week after The UK declared war on Nazi Germany in 1939. In order to show more "indpendence" but you're more or less Correct. The Second World War helped solidify Canadian Soverignity.

[@HelloWorld-xf2ks]

Great video, but when will you make that video about defenestrating the snow golems?

[@ciroguerra-lara6747]

From what I´ve read, the spainish Peso=Dollar had a lot more influence on the US Dollar that the video seems to imply.

[@iihypedxpertroblox7508]

4:00 True story XD We Aussies says that. "EVERYTHING IS CHIPS"

[@justnoob8141]

Well, they’re all technically chip, most snack name is a brand

[@daewolfo94]

World Currency Collector and Dealer here (mainly in paper currency), been doing this for around 10 years. This video is pretty good! I actually have a few Aussie and Kiwi Pounds as well as Pounds from other former colonies like South Africa (in Afrikkaans its Pond), Cyprus, and also those Strait Settlements Dollars. The shilling also was used with Australia and the other crown colonies as some banknotes were issued as 10 shillings or half a pound. Funny you should mention the Lion too since two currencies being the Romanian Leu and the Bulgarian Leva are named after the Lion. And also I could be wrong with this one, but the pre-Euro Austrian Schilling is based on the shillining used by the Anglo world, that or vice vera. If you need info on these currency videos hit me up! Also some good resources would be "banknote. ws" and pmgnotes if you want good scans of notes or if you need like general info. Also I agree with you on the Hong Kong Dollar, but you gotta include the Macaunese Pataca too which is also just as strange as the Hong Kong dollar. I'd also say the parring of the Singaporean Dollar and the Brunei Dollar is a unique system

[@OpinionesDeJACCsOpinions]

Now I know why Romanian currency is called lion!

[@scootergrant8683]

Have you collected any old currencies like the relatively complex system used in the UK such as angels, crowns etc.

[@santinomamone2674]

Another good video man

[@ascra1693]

Irish pound was used until 2000s when it changed to euros

[@qwertyTRiG]

Cyprus and Malta also had pounds.

[@louisbeerreviews8964]

@@qwertyTRiG Malta uses have Italian currency name

[@qwertyTRiG]

@@louisbeerreviews8964 Lira and pound are actually related words, and the Maltese currency was called both names.

[@tomd5678]

By using it's own currency, a country can adjust its economic policy and fine tune it to the requirements of that country. You can see this in the Eurozone and also in some states of America where an individual state is tied to inappropriate financial constraints

[@ItisMoody]

3:46 "with its value determined as a kind of compromise between the US dollar and the British sovereign. *Story of Canada in a nutshell.* " The accuracy...

[@sammexp]

In Quebec, the old currency of lower Canada is still use as a Slang word for Dollar, it’s Piastres, Pronounced Piasse and the expression 4 x 30 sous for one piastres remain even if 30 sous is 25 cents. people still use sou as a synonymous for cent

[@scythal]

4:45 You could say that the popularity of "royal" sunk..... like.... Harold Holt...

[@gentlemanskier3107]

Scythal big sad

[@andrewrollason4963]

HA - www.stonnington.vic.gov.au/Discover/Harold-Holt-Swim-Centre

[@cardinalhistory6973]

A currency video heck ya.

[@CrazyInWeston]

You subtitle your videos! Thank you so much for this! I am deaf and need subtitles. Edit...Errr Closed Captions if you didn't understand what I meant.

[@rmar127]

Actually Australia’s first currency was The British pound. Then rum became a strong contender for the main monetary unit.

[@ianport2185]

When I was very young we still had lsd. It made perfect sense; yes, the decimal system is easier, but if you're brought up with lsd, it's entirely sensible. The changeover was in response to international acceptance. Lsd most certainly wasn't an abomination - it financed the 19th century (for example).

[@hart-of-gold]

The reason is because the former colonies halved their base currency units when the currency became decimal. 1 old pound = 2 new dollars, 1 old shilling = 10 new cents, 1 penny = 1 cent. Also the format prices were written in changed, so changing the symbols at the time made sense. I had an old coin from NZ that had 2 marks, 1 shilling and 10 cents, minted 1966 IIRC, just before the change over.

[@cameronburke8002]

Imagine the Australian Kwid. Everyone in Ireland and Britain anyways says Kwid (Spelled Quid) so it would be cool to have a currency called a Quid Edit : I said England and forgot Scotland and Wales

[@SandyPete448]

And Scotland and wales

[@honderdzeventien]

Hey there was NO quid pro quo, right? :-D

[@paganphil100]

cameron burke: Just to confuse things even further.......those people old enough to remember pre-decimal British currency will recall that the "half crown" coin (equal to 2 shillings and six pence) was often referred to as "half a dollar".

[@M_4C4z]

DEFENESTRATE THE SNOW GOLEMS

[@thabisodube]

Thank you man

[@fithri99]

During the time Malaysia used Dollar, the local Malays had been calling it Ringgit despite the $ symbol. Now, Malay-Bruneians and some Malay-Singaporean still call it Ringgit.

[@FindecanorNotGmail]

Reichsthaler/Riksdaler/Rigsdaler where also names of currencies in Germany and Scandinavia from mid-1566 to 1600s until the 1870s. Germany then switched to the "Mark" and Scandinavia formed a currency union around the "Krona".

[@maddie9602]

In defense of the pound-shilling-pence system, notice anything special about the number 240 (number of pence in a pound)? It's what's called a highly-composite number. It easily divides into a number of fractions. Half? 120. Thirds? 80. A quarter pound was (pre-decimilization) 60 pence, a fifth of one was 48, a sixth 40, an eighth 30, a tenth 24, and a twelfth 20 pence. It divides evenly and easily into a number of different ways. Have you tried splitting $10 three ways? The specific ratios they chose were for making the math easier. There's a reason so many cultures have traditionally liked the numbers 12 and 20: they're easy to divide into common fractions.

[@OnkelJajusBahn]

Actually the name derives from the Czech city of Joachimsthal, now known as Jáchymov, but anyway, great video.

[@chon-850]

0:05 the name of the currency is Pound Sterling not Great British Pound. It's just that the code is GBP

[@roceb5009]

1:45 "1801" *shows separate northern and southern Ireland, uses Irish flag" uhhhh well that's one choice

[@OpinionesDeJACCsOpinions]

😆😅😂🤣

[@adom6750]

I know the map in this video is historically inaccurate.

[@rcm926]

Calling it "southern Ireland" will piss a lot of people off

[@charliekent9526]

@@rcm926 shit Ireland*

[@northatlanticcommonwealth1188]

Charlie Kent *IRA WANTS TO KNOW YOUR LOCATION*

[@AlejandroRodolfoMendez]

from 1984 to 1991 argentina used austral as currency, the it got a peso back. also like the history of netherland bit, a lot of countries that were part of spain used his version of the peso, other dollars. ironically spain stopped using pesos and used pesetas (like little pesos) and then the euro.

[@kchishol1970]

Canada didn't break off from the British Empire in 1867; four of the colonies there formed a confederation with Britain encouraging it to handle their domestic affairs and collective defense without the UK having to do all of it itself. Furthermore, Canada remained part of the British Empire, with it gradually taking on their own foreign policy in light of unsatisfactory actions by the British, until the Empire was largely dissolved into the British Commonwealth in 1931 with Canada being largely autonomous with the final constitutional authority being ceded to Canada in 1982, making it an autonomous nation in all official capacities.

[@tylersmith3139]

By break off he means gain independence, that was 1867. Canada started running itself independent of Britain since 1867 so yes Canada did gain independence in that year.

[@juliopeinado2660]

Fun Fact; Mexico, Philippines and a number of countries call their currencies Pounds despite not being part of British Empire. (Pesos is Spanish for Pounds)

[@Dear_Mr._Isaiah_Deringer]

Wow i didn't know that Hong Kongs money is printed with the logo of HSBC on it. That's a bit weird.

[@kdg7247]

HK dollar banknotes are issued by three commercial banks: HSBC, BOC (Bank of China) and Standard Chartered. Therefore in HK you will find banknotes with logos of those three banks. Note though that they do not fulfill the role of the central bank, as that role is defacto fulfilled by HK Monetary Authority. As he said, interesting currency!

[@chongjunxiang3002]

Imagine instead of Federal Reserve of some cities, we got Bank of America, Citibank and Wells Fargo are responsible for printing them.

[@kakarot1234567891234]

Dragan Kantar Yep, as a Canadian who lived in Hong Kong, that was strange to me but kind of cool when you go to an ATM or get change and try to guess which bank it’s going to be from.

[@sergeseanmison7787]

@@kakarot1234567891234 I was also confused. When I saw Elizabeth the second on a Canadian 20 dollar bill after I used an ATM in Toronto.

[@kakarot1234567891234]

Serge Sean mison Well all of the coins in Canada have the queen on them and our 20 bank note still had the queen on it as well. It’s not that surprising since many former British colonies have the queen on their currency somewhere. Fun fact though we used to have a 1000 bank note which was withdrawn fairly recently, in 2000.

[@HadiAsadGDalHaj]

Actually, Malaysia can be considered as one of the country that using Dollar, because literally Ringgit mean Dollar. It can be seen in Brunei Dollar, where in their note moneys use Dollar in English and Ringgit in Malay and in daily use domesticly, Bruneians use Ringgit. This was also true for Singapore but, some period after separation with Malaysia, they do not use Ringgit anymore legally and daily use especially age of 45 and above. Older people especially from Malay ethic, many of them still been heard using Ringgit for Singapore Dollar.

[@kosmischesynth]

Great video! In the first few seconds you say "Great British pound" - nobody calls it that. Pound Sterling is it's name

[@gchecosse]

They don't, but it is abbreviated as GBP

[@mukdenbusakda4156]

As a Chinese, I am quite familiar with VPN

[@mazenayman7512]

Lol

[@chrisgurney2467]

The Scottish Pound still exists and is pegged 1:1 to the English Pound The Dollar sign comes from the Pillars of Hercules on the Spanish Peso which were wrapped in a banner of the motto "Plus Ultra" which is why the "S" also can be shown with 2 dashes

[@hobmoor2042]

There is no such thing as a Scottish Pound. Banknotes of Scotland are the banknotes of the pound sterling that are issued by the Scottish banks and in circulation in Scotland. They are technically not legal tender anywhere in the United Kingdom - not even in Scotland. They are classified as promissory notes as they are issued by retail banks, not by the Central Bank (the Bank of England).

[@paganphil100]

@@hobmoor2042: Many (but not all) places throughout the UK and other places will accept Scottish banknotes.......I once bought a bottle of wine in Cyprus with a Scottish note :-)

[@josiptito9412]

i have actually had that situation, not having access to my shows is a pain in the ass

[@tricky778]

We also call a specific number of pounds (not the currency but an individual bundle of whole numbered pounds) as Quid, 5 Pounds = 5 Quid. It's interesting to learn that Australia considered officially calling their currency the Kwid.

[@PlatineMapper]

In Argentina we had the "Austral" for a breif period of time but it died thanks to 4900% hyperinflation

[@sergeseanmison7787]

Fuck

[@roberttucker1527]

Classic Argie move

[@PlatineMapper]

@@roberttucker1527 yes

[@MythologywithMike]

Man Australia really missed an opportunity not calling it the Emu or the Kanga! Those sound much more fun than dollar

[@wookie2222]

3:03 wrong "Joachimsthal". The Thaler was mined in the bohemian Jachymov, not in that one in the State of Brandenburg.

[@liamdoes8580]

1:57 Ireland used the pound sterling/punt all the way up until 1999

[@gchecosse]

Until 1928, then the Irish pound was pegged to sterling until 1979.

[@Gloriaimperial1]

Because Spain gave the 8 Real or SPANISH DOLLAR to the United States, when we defeated the British in the 1776-1783 war of independence, blockading England with a naval fleet, which plunged the London stock market (Luis de Córdova, General Captain of the Armada). The 8 or Spanish dollar real was the most important currency in the world for 300 years (approximately 1500-1800), also the mother of the currency of China, Japan, the Philippines, and even Hong Kong in 1842. Spain filled all of Asia with silver . And also because the Australians, Canadians and others sensed that the United States was going to be much more important than the little United Kingdom, when the empire disappeared.

[@ejenn-syahmixcel1730]

About Malaysian Ringgit and stuff: Basically, all SEA British colonies (Malaya, Singapore, Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei) are in the union of a Malayan Dollar between 1953 and 1967, before Malaysia established their own National Bank (Bank Negara) and thus introduction of Ringgits for Malaysian. The name, meaning jagged was a reference of the trades of Malay ancients when much coins has jagged side. Initially even after the currency split, they went on a fixed value of all currency of SGD, MYR and BND (Brunei Dollar) before Malaysia left the treaty about it in the 70s. SGD and BND still shares the same value as for today. However, MYR still used $ for their symbol until the 90s when RM for Ringgit was introduced.

[@anteweig4816]

In 3:17 you mention Joachimsthal, but the location on the map is wrong. The Joachimsthal where the "Taler" was born is in Bohemia, which is now part of the Czech Republic.

[@yodorob]

South Africa's current currency is the rand, not the dollar, despite having once had the pound like Australia, New Zealand, etc.

[@sisyphusvasilias3943]

Only Americans would think NZ is Australians Canada. Showing they don't know much aboot Canada or NZ.

[@riograndelocos9639]

@@sg-yq8pm caught one!

[@OpinionesDeJACCsOpinions]

@@riograndelocos9639 Huh?

[@OpinionesDeJACCsOpinions]

(3:43) Canada didn't “broke off” from no one in 1867. All that happened was that instead of having four independent colonies, it because one colony called the Dominion of Canada. The question of when Canada became independent is a tricky one! One could argue 1931 when the independent Canadian Crown was created via the Statute of Westminster 1931 or 1982 with the “Patriation” of the Canadian Constitution which ended any British involvement in the amending of Canada's constitution. But for sure Canada continued as part of the British Empire until sometime in the 20th century, while being created in the mid-19th century.

[@tylersmith3139]

He means Canada became a independently run country, that was 1867.

[@OpinionesDeJACCsOpinions]

@@tylersmith3139 It was an autonomous part of the British Empire. Not a country.

[@tylersmith3139]

@@OpinionesDeJACCsOpinions It was a country, that's what a dominion is. Similar to how English is a country that is part of the UK or how Aruba is Constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. They are countries that are part of a greater sovereign entity.

[@Ujabuja]

Technically the Queen is still the head of state in Canada so we are still 'ruled' by the Brits to this day

[@tylersmith3139]

@@Ujabuja Not ruled, but she is the figure head of Canada and symbolically represents us. Other countries that don't have monarchs usually have a President who rules/governs the country and Prime Minister who acts as a Head of State and is a figure head for the country and represents it. The Queen has no power in Canada or the UK, in the UK, she can't have any political opinions and must be strictly non-partisan and in Canada, the Governor General, the official representative of the monarchy in colonies/former colonies is chosen by the Prime Minister from the his own political party.

[@corgimations]

Oh yay a currency video!

[@lunarmodule6419]

Interesting thx 😃

[@jamiebehun1743]

@KhAnubis you forgot to mention the New Zealand Dollar.

[@kairon156]

Newfoundland had their own currency 3-4 years before Canada. Other than that oversight this is a really good episode, as I've been wondering about currency names.

[@khyberw]

Canada didn’t break away from Great Britain in 1867. It wasn’t until 1980 when Canada got its first constitution that cut all legal ties with the British, retaining only the same monarch.

[@WDCallahan]

I subscribed as soon as he said crap ton. That was awesome.

[@fingernailclipper2152]

Awesome :D

[@jordanevans7499]

4:00 the things you get from maccas are fries because they are thin and from America. The things you would get from a restaurant (if they are thick-cut) are chips. when it comes packets of chips you would call an Americanised brand like doritos or pringles by their name but all non American brands chips

[@solehsolehsoleh]

Those Malayan currencies, (from 5:55 to 6:06 ) they are only called 'dollar' in English, you can see some jawi (the arabic script for malay languages) written on the side as 'satu ringgit' that is one ringgit.

[@DonJqz]

Well my notifications aren't working but great video nonetheless

[@GyacoYu]

The entire East Asia uses dollar derived from the Spanish dollar aka Mexican peso. Yuan/won/yen/togrog/nguyen/pataca are all translations of peso/dollar. The only place that keeps traditional Sinosphere currency usage is Vietnam where dung (=qian/chon/wen/mon) is used.

[@Lord_Foxy13]

Defenestrate the snow golems Defenestrate is my favourite English word

[@tylersmith3139]

The reason why Can't Canada chose the Dollar was because it was a decimal currency, not because America used it. Canada and the US were still sort of enemies in the mid-to-late 1800s with Canada believing all British colonies not in the US were rightfully part of it and the US' manifest destiny doctrine creating the idea that all British colonies and Dominions such as Canada in North America belonged to them. The US even contemplated invading Canada in Plan Red, but WW1 cut those plans short and established the relationship Canada and the US have today.

[@keimcpartlan7434]

Imagine how awful it would be if your own colonies used a different form of currency from your own lol.

[@gchecosse]

Today this is the case for some of the French, most of the British and all of the Dutch.

[@briantlougan810]

Am I missing something or did you make it as difficult as possible to head over to your vpn sponsor? I can't click on it. I can't copy it and pop it into the search engine. I have to memorize it and type it? If it was easier, I'd get more info. But it's just enough of a hassle I'll be skipping it. Interesting video topic.

[@crazyoncoffee]

6:27 Not sure if you said yen or yuan there, but either way the Chinese currency is called Renminbi.

[@tricky778]

Even in the 1990's we called our (British) currency "Pound, Sterling": "I will sell you this fine rug for fifty Pound, Sterling". On the news they reported Sterling against the US Dollar, not GBP against USD.

[@kenbell3250]

Not quite. The pound was originally a pound, Tower weight, of silver. It was divided into 240 pennies and that is what everyone used. After the Norman Conquest, the shilling was introduced to stand for 12 pennies. It meant that the newly taxed landowners could pay their dues to the King without having to send tons of pennies to London. The $ for the dollar is more likely a version of an "8" from the correct name for the Mexican colonial currency, the real de ocho, or royal eight in English. Spanish dollar was only ever the colloquial name for it. American merchants in the late 18C had lots of different coins and they needed a symbol for each one of them, so they seem to have invented the "$" for the real as an accounting aid.

[@tylersmith3139]

The dollar is and abbreviation of PS(peso).

[@kiwitrainguy]

Hence pirates referring to "pieces of eight".

[@pjmathison9787]

We also call a pound a quid

[@gayvideos3808]

0:15 Haida Gwaii is part of Canada

[@Williamsmith42]

you're not an Australian, you are chips LOL but honestly i loved the beautiful info you've shared, goodonya ^_^

[@avaevathornton9851]

Chuck them icy clay folks straight out the window!

[@lewis5384]

So why do former British colonies use dollars instead of pounds? I feel like I got all the context but none of the answers

[@jgroenveld1268]

I can speak for New Zealand - because the older pound, shillings, pennies, etc. system was not decimal based like the US dollar. There was speak of decimalising the existing pounds but there was concerns that it will cause confusion so opted to adopt the dollar system. When we went thru decimalisation in 1965 (Australia did it a year earlier I think) - the UK observed how we both did it and realised they could just decimalise the existing pound system.

[@keithwatson1384]

@@jgroenveld1268 I was about to say, you could have just decimalized the pound like the UK and others, it would be much cooler to use the New Zealand Pound Sterling as well!

[@qwertyTRiG]

@@keithwatson1384 If NZ used their own pound, it wouldn't be called sterling. It would be called the NZ pound. I'm familiar with this, as I grew up with pounds until Ireland joined the euro in my late teens. (The Irish pound was pegged to sterling for a while initially, then floated free for a bit before we joined the euro. Something similar happened in Cyprus with the Cypriot pound.)

[@hart-of-gold]

Because the base currency units halved when the currency became decimal. 1 old pound = 2 new dollars, 1 old shilling = 10 new cents, 1 penny = 1 cent. Also the format prices were written in changed, so changing the symbols at the time made sense. I had an old coin from NZ that had 2 marks, 1 shilling and 10 cents, minted 1966 IIRC, just before the change over.

[@jovanweismiller7114]

You'd do well to study a bit of Canadian history. Canada did not 'break away from Britain in 1867'. In fact Canada remained a colony until the Statute of Westminster, 1931, and did not become fully independent until the Repatriation of the Constitution in 1982.

[@RealLifeW0rld]

The British Empire was this close to making the World Pound Sterling........

[@andrewrollason4963]

Menzies was PM until 26th Jan 1966. The Decimal Dollar was introduced on 14th Feb 1966. If you think that they reprinted $98bn in a fortnight, you are off your trolley.

[@illac3429]

the issue with your idea of the $ sign being a badly drawn "p s" is flawed because the dollar sign used to have two lines going vertical through it .

[@OpinionesDeJACCsOpinions]

It still does if you ask Brazilians (the real (BRL) official symbol ‘R$’ is supposed to always have the two lines), but it also depends on the font used. So it isn't exactly one way.

[@Aydosh1991]

In the Turks & Caicos islands, the US dollar is national currency. Interestingly the 25 cent coins were minted with the Queen's head on the front.

[@Spergy]

UK: americans are so complicated why don't they use the nice metric system. US: brits are so complicated why don't they use the nice dollar system.

[@Spergy]

@anon anon we have history of beating you guys up

[@alejandromendez488]

Btw peso is also Spanish for weight or the weight of something like a pound.

[@alecblunden8615]

The real question is why does the US use a Spanish monetary term.

[@jon6309]

Would you cover a topic on hard currencies vs soft currencies? One source said the South African rand is considered a hard currency but I didn’t even know why. It seems like some countries in Africa do use the rand as a reserve currency.

[@kiwitrainguy]

I'm just making a guess here but perhaps a hard currency is backed by gold or some other precious metal and a soft currency is what is referred to as Fiat Currency meaning "It's worth that much because we say it does".

[@jon6309]

@@kiwitrainguy nope the dinar is an example of a pegged (fixed) currency that is not considered hard. The following currencies: euro, US dollars, British pounds, Japanese Yen and Swiss Francs are all considered hard currencies and are all fiat not fixed at all!

[@zepod6645]

Finally you mentioned Jamaica

[@DMTZA]

You've got the location of Joachimsthal wrong, Wikipedia would have helped; it is in present day Czechia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%A1chymov

[@alexFNX_]

i watch your videos everyday man, another amazing vid, keep up the good work

[@danw7008]

Everyday ? Get a life

[@peterbreis5407]

Quid not Kwid was the slang name for the Australian Pound. For neatness & easy calculation (which escaped the British) Australians made 10 shillings (half a pound) become a dollar, with a shilling 10 cents and sixpence 5 cents. But then we managed very quickly and thoroughly Metric as well, something the British chronically can not manage, 50 years later. Interestingly the English pound and Australian pound (now 2 dollars) stayed roughly in parallel despite being separated and free floating for over 150 years. Sometimes the English pound is worth a bit more and sometimes a bit less than the Australian pound/2 dollars.

[@paganphil100]

Peter Breis: Britain has used "Metric" (i.e. Decimal) currency since 1971 and most other measurements are usually calculated using the decimal system (weights, temperature, volume, etc) although distances are still measured in miles, not kilometres.

[@peterbreis5407]

@@paganphil100 Currency is not "metric" (the word derives from metre) and although it is now 2019 England is still only half on board the metric system which is readily apparent in every day speech, with weights (ounces/pounds/stones), area (sq feet, acres and sq miles), distance (feet, yards, miles) and volume (pints/gallons) but also oddities like horse power and the mixed bag of temperature. There is even this lot: www.bwmaonline.com When England finally gets out of Europe, and then promptly out of the United Kingdom, it can go back to the "proper" Imperial system. ;)

[@SomasAcademy]

~4:28 I don't understand why "Robert Menzies" get's a "yes, that is how it's pronounced"... That pronunciation seems very intuitive, why would anyone find it surprising?

[@DomqE]

nice video, btw it is actually pronounced as "Yo-Ah-chims-tAhl" and not "yawkimstall" 😉

[@barvdw]

It's still a lot closer than the Leeuwendaalder...

[@VV-Gaming]

Wrong Joachimstal, though. Thaler/Taler/Tolar is from Sankt Joachimstal in Bohemia, not the one in Germany.

[@Marty250100]

Actually Joachimstaler was a coin from the town of Joachimsthal (in Czech Jáchymov) in the Kingdom of Bohemia in nowadays Czechia, not Germany.