Currency of Uruguay issued by Banco Nacional of Buenos Aires for Provincia Oriental ("Eastern Province", i.e., Uruguay). All parties to the conflict used the Spanish dollar (Spanish "peso", Portuguese " patacão"), which circulated with a value of 8 Spanish reales or 960 Brazilian reis. Circulation consisted of coins from mints in Mexico, Potosí, Brazil, and Buenos Aires. During the turbulent period of conflict preceding independence, a considerable amount of poor-quality copper coin from both Buenos Aires and Brazil came into circulation. Peso (Patacón) = 8 Reales = 800 Centésimos de real (centavos) Onza de oro = 16 Pesos In 1828, Uruguay's currency was
Currency of Uruguay moneda national" (peso national currency). The economy picked up after 1876 and the 1880s were a period of prosperity and expansion. Internal peace was achieved in 1884, and there was a heavy influx of foreign capital. The Reus Law of 1887 made it easy to establish new banks (the most important of which was Banco Nacional). While Uruguay's neighbors, Argentina and Brazil, were obliged to use inconvertible paper currency, Uruguay continued to use gold. By 1889 the flow of foreign capital was drying up, and the prices paid for Uruguay's exports were falling. Gold was leaving the country, and Banco