Brief history of Money in Cyprus
The history of money in Cyprus began 2500 years ago when the first coin, which was silver, was minted in Cyprus in the 6th century BC.
The historical development of money in Cyprus has followed the sometimes stormy and turbulent course of the island’s political history. The various conquerors that ruled Cyprus throughout its history introduced their own monetary unit to the island. Hence, among other monetary units, the stater, the obol, Roman and Byzantine coins, the gross, the dinar, the cartzi, the para, the piastre and the pound have been used as the island’s currency.
In 1960, when Cyprus was declared independent and the Republic of Cyprus was established, the Cyprus pound became the country’s monetary unit. Initially, the pound was divided into 1.000 mils. In 1983 a new denomination, the cent, was introduced to replace the mil. The numismatic system remained the same as the Cyprus pound continued to be the Republic’s currency, the only difference being its denomination into 100 cent, instead of 1.000 mils.
With the accession of Cyprus to the euro area on 1 January 2008, the euro has replaced the Cyprus pound as the Republic’s monetary unit.