What is the French Currency: History, Differences between the Franc and the Euro

France is a country located in the European region with temperatures reaching 8 degrees centigrade when it's winter. Maybe you are no strangers to the nickname that this country has as la france or free man. 

The nickname is also related to the history of the struggle of the French people in achieving the independence of their country. In this historical process, developments in the use of French currency were also found, the following is a full explanation:

What is French Currency?

The French currency uses the franc as the national currency, before finally changing to the euro in 2002. The franc currency had previously been managed by the Bank of France and had coin denominations with values ​​of 1,5,10, 20, 20 and 50 francs, as well as banknotes with denominations of 100, 200, 500, XNUMX and XNUMX francs.

Please note that the French nation has a very long history with a total of more than 600 years. Changes that occurred in the French currency that occurred in 2002 occurred also due to the support provided by the country for European monetary integration.

History of French Currency

In 1360, during the Poitiers War or the Battle of the Hundred Years' War between France and England, France had to pay a fine for its defeat by the English army after the capture of King John II. This imposed fine required France to mint new gold coins.

Historically in 1803, the occurrence of the french revolution resulted in insurmountable conditions in politics and the economy and opened up more opportunities for the introduction of a new french currency, namely the franc currency. French currency denominated in francs first depicts the figure of Napoleon Bonaparte as French emperor.

The creation of the franc coin is also known as the gold napoleon because it contains 290,32 mg of gold and has received much praise for its healthy money status. Entering the 19th century, French economic conditions entered industrialization and caused the franc to experience growth as an international currency.

In 1865, France, as part of the founders of another monetary union, attempted to create a unified European economy using the same currency. After World War II, France resumed its idea of ​​being able to unite currencies in the European region. 

As time went on and efforts were made by France to unite currencies in the European region, in 1992 France ratified the Maastricht Agreement regarding the use of the euro currency as the basis of the European Union. It was through this agreement that France adopted the use of the franc currency into the euro currency and has continued to this day.

The difference between francs and euros

After World War II, many countries were affected politically, socially and even economically, including France. After World War II, the franc currency experienced a decline before finally making the move to the euro currency.

World War II resulted in France having to pay significant wartime expenses, this was further exacerbated by an inflated economy and property destroyed as a result of the fighting of World War II. The exchange rate of the franc currency at that time was increasingly eroding, but it was different from the fate of using the euro currency when it was adopted.

The euro currency is currently relatively stable after being adopted by France, through the euro currency France has experienced growth by an average of 1,09% during the 2002-2021 period. The French currency currently used is the euro, where the means of payment the legal franc has ceased since 2002. 

The Bank of France also stopped converting francs for euros on 17 February 2012, although francs are still considered valuable to collectors at different prices. So it can be concluded that the use of the euro currency in France is intended as a unification of currencies in European countries

Thus information about the French currency and its history. Through the explanation that has been presented before. The change in the franc currency to the euro was also supported by the depreciation of the franc exchange rate. Hopefully this information can be useful!