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Sterling (ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. [3] The pound is the main unit of sterling, [4] [c] and the word pound is also used to refer to the British currency generally, [7] often qualified in international contexts as the British pound or the pound sterling. [4]
The origin of £/, s, and d were the Latin terms Libra, meaning a pound weight (with the £ sign developing as an elaborate L), solidus (pl. solidi), 20 of which made up one Libra, and denarius (pl. denarii), 240 of which made up one Libra with 12 being equal to one solidus. These terms and divisions of currency were in use from the 7th century.
The pound sterling (symbol: £; ISO 4217 currency code: GBP) is the official currency of the United Kingdom, Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, British Antarctic Territory, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, and Tristan da Cunha. The Bank of England has a legal monopoly of banknote issuance in England and Wales.
The pound sign (£) is the symbol for the pound unit of sterling – the currency of the United Kingdom and its associated Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories and previously of Great Britain and of the Kingdom of England.
In 1940, an agreement with the US pegged the Pound sterling to the US dollar at a rate of £1 = US$4.03. This meaning of "dollar" is not to be confused with the British trade dollar that circulated in East Asia. In 2014, a new world record price was achieved for a milled silver crown.
Saint Helenian pound (parity with pound sterling) (US$ accepted in Ascension Island) Government of Saint Helena British Indian Ocean Territory; United States dollar (de facto) [3] [4] Sterling (de jure) [5] [6] [7] US Federal Reserve System British Virgin Islands Turks and Caicos Islands; United States dollar
The British pound sterling and Irish pound were among the last to be decimalised, on 15 February 1971. In places where £sd was used, there were several approaches to decimalisation: The pound remained the base unit (in Malta, using the Maltese name "lira"), but was subdivided into new fractional units of 1 ⁄ 100 of a pound.
[citation needed] While the Isle of Man recognises the Pound Sterling as a secondary currency, coins of the Manx pound are not legal tender in the UK. The pound sterling is also the official currency of the British overseas territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, [41] British Antarctic Territory [42] and Tristan da Cunha. [43]