Currency of Croatia

Croats did not begin to create their own coins for currency until late in the 12th century (1100-1200). Previously, they minted replicas of Byzantine coins of emperor Heraclius.[2] Byzantine coinage was adopted by Byzantine Empire in the 4th century (300-400) and was the currency standard for the empire for about 700 years[3]

In 1192, Croatian Duke Herceg Andrija minted a new coinage the Croatian fristatic, which included the silver denar and half-denar. His successors, the Croatian viceroys, minted a new coinage called the banovac (banski denar) which lasted from 1260 to 1380. This currency used fine silver from the mints in current day Zagreb and Pakrac.[1]

At the start of the 15th century (1400-1500), coastal Croatia came under increasing attack by the Ottoman Empire, which wanted to take control of it from the Republic of Venice. Venice succeeded in maintaining control over the current Croatian territory except for the city-state of Dubrovnik, which became independent during this time,[4] and minted and refined their own coinage over the span of five years. This “Republic of Dubrovnik” coinage was called the artiluc. During this five-year span, other Croatian coastal towns, Zadar, Šibenik, Trogir, Split and Hvar also minted their own similar coinage.[1]

Printed money was introduced into the Croatian territory in 1778 in the city of Pag. This new currency was referred to as assignats, which were also being introduced into France at the same time. Previously the city of Pag had relied on salt to pay officers, clerks and doctors. To convert salt to assignats, the salt amount was converted to a lira equivalent, which was noted on the assignats by including sum and issue date information.[1]

In 1848, Josip Jelačić was appointed Ban of Croatia, and issued a combination of coins and banknotes during his time as ruler. For smaller-scale transactions, coins called križar and forint (minted in Zagreb) were utilized. Križar were minted from copper and forint from silver. For larger transactions of enterprises, communalities, and trading houses, banknotes backed by guarantees were issued instead.[1]

With the creation of Yugoslavia in 1918, the Serbian dinar was adopted alongside the krone in Croatia. The Serbian dinar also became the currency of the Kingdom of Serbs and the Slovenes. These were the first banknotes that represented the Kingdom of the Serbians. In 1929, the name of the country was changed from Kingdom of the Serbs to Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and thus, the name of the currency was changed from the Serbian dinar to the Yugoslav dinar[5]

In 1929, a Croatian revolutionary movement, known as the Ustaša, started to form. This revolutionary movement was a Croatian, fascist, ultranationalist and terrorist organization that murdered hundreds of thousands of Serbs and Jews.[6] In 1941 Yugoslavia allowed the radical right Ustaša to come into power over the territory of Croatia, which progressed the formation of the Independent State of Croatia.[7] From 1941-1945 during WWII, Croatia was independent, and officially adopted the Kuna as the currency for the first time on July 26th,1941. The Croatian Kuna at the time of adoption included banknotes of 10, 50, 100, 500, and 1,000. Banknotes of 1, 2, were later introduced in 1942, and 5,000 banknotes were added in 1943.[8] The Kuna started with a fixed exchange rate of 20.00 Kn (Kuna) = 1 RM (Reichsmark), the currency for Germany at the time.[9] By May 6th 1945, the exchange rate between the Kuna and Reichsmark was fixed at 120.00 Kn (Kuna) = 1 RM (Reichsmark)[8]

In 1945, the Ustaša were forced to concede due to the Partisan resistance and their help from the Soviet Red Army, and the Independent State of Croatia was recaptured by Socialist Yugoslavia, and became part of a new communist system.[7] From June 30th to July 9th, the Kuna was removed from the currency circulation and replaced by the 1944 issue of the Yugoslav Dinar. At the time of reissue, the Yugoslav Dinar had a fixed exchange rate of 40 Kn (Kuna) = 1 dinar[9]