Currency of Uruguay Currency of Uruguay This is an outline of Uruguay's monetary history. For the present currency of Uruguay, see Uruguayan peso. Uruguay's currency was initially that common to all of Spanish America. During the struggle over this region, initially between Spain and Portugal, then between Argentina and Brazil, the coinage of both contestants circulated. When the area was annexed to Brazil in 1821 as Provincia Cisplatina, the Portuguese (Brazilian) administration put notes of Banco do Brazil into circulation. This was the first paper money to circulate in Uruguay. Then, in 1826–1828, Argentine troops fighting against Brazil were paid in one-peso notes
Currency lads and lasses of illegality, inferior quality, and subordination. By analogy, native-born colonials came to be known as "currency", in contrast to the British-born "sterling". The first reference in print to the native-born being called "currency" was in the "Sydney Gazette" of 13 September 1822, in a letter signed by "Lydia Languish" calling for more social events to be organised for "currency lasses". As applied to people rather money, the term originally had derogatory connotations – by the early 1820s, "currency had stuck for male and female native-born and everyone knew what it implied". However, it was soon reclaimed by the native-born as