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The franc (/ f r æ ŋ k /; French: franc français, [fʁɑ̃ fʁɑ̃sɛ]; sign: F or Fr), [n 2] also commonly distinguished as the French franc (FF), was a currency of France.Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money.
The franc is any of various units of currency.One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes.The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription francorum rex (King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th century, or from the French franc, meaning "frank" (and "free" in certain contexts, such as coup franc, "free kick").
The franc was subdivided into 100 centimes or 10 décimes. The Monégasque franc circulated alongside the French franc with the same value. Like the French franc, the Monégasque franc was revalued in 1960 at a rate of 100 old francs = 1 new franc. [2] The official euro-to-franc exchange rate was MCF 6.55957 to EUR 1. [3]
The first coins of the Swiss franc were minted in Paris, Brussels and Strasbourg, until the former cantonal mint of Bern was made ready to begin production as federal mint. The batch of coins produced in 1850 and 1851 was insufficient, and the Federal Council had to resort to authorising the circulation of French, Belgian and Italian coins.
Centime (from Latin: centesimus) is French for "cent", and is used in English as the name of the fraction currency in several Francophone countries (including Switzerland, Algeria, Belgium, Morocco and France). In France, the usage of centime goes back to the introduction of the decimal monetary system under Napoleon. This system aimed at ...
Nickel-brass replaced cupro-nickel in the 5 and 10 centimes in 1930, followed by the 25 centime in 1938. Nickel 5 and 20 francs were introduced in 1930 and 1931, respectively, followed by silver 20 francs in 1933 and 50 francs in 1939. In 1938 the 5 franc was reduced in size and redesigned along with the 1 franc to depict a lion and heraldic arms.
The 5-franc notes were replaced by coins in 1949, followed by the 10-franc notes in 1971, the 20-franc notes in 1980 and the 50-franc notes in 1987. In 1985, the Institut Monétaire Luxembourgeois took over paper money issuance from the government and issued the first post-war 1000-franc notes (€24.79).
The franc zone, a currency union in sub-Saharan Africa, [49] was established when the CFA franc (or franc de la Communauté Financière Africaine) was created in 1945 as a colonial currency for over a dozen of France's African colonies.