Tatiana Seijas and Jake Frederick. Spanish Dollars and Sister Republics: The Money That Made Mexico and the United States.

Abstract

The importance of the role played by the real de a ocho (piece of eight), a coin minted in Peru and Mexico between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, is well known among historians. Also known as the Spanish dollar, it was the first globally accepted currency, and its abundance or scarcity had a direct impact on long-distance trade. Also known are the disastrous implications for world trade of the adulteration of the eight-real peso in Potosí in the mid-seventeenth century, which caused market uncertainty spanning from the Americas and Europe to China. Additionally, the “monetary symbiosis” between Mexico and the North American colonies has long been recognized by specialists. The Spanish dollar was adopted by the English colonies as a means of payment simply because of the dearth of local silver sources (and, in consequence, the absence of a mint). Moreover, both regions used the same symbol ($) to denominate their currencies. Historians indicate that the origin of that dollar symbol is to be found in the representation on one side of the real de a ocho of the Pillars of Hercules with a ribbon draped around them.