Guatemalan Quetzal (GTQ) Profile

Guatemalan quetzal users

The Guatemalan quetzal is the currency of Guatemala (officially the Republic of Guatemala), which is a country in Central America. Guatemala declared independence from Spain in 1821. During the years of 1824 to 1839, Guatemala became a part of a short-lived sovereign state named the Federal Republic of Central America (existed from 1823 to 1840), which consisted of the present-day nations of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Mexico. Until 1839, Guatemala became an independent country.

Guatemalan quetzal history

The Guatemalan quetzal was introduced in 1925, replacing the peso, which was circulated in Guatemala between 1859 and 1925. The Guatemalan peso was initially worth and subdivided into 8 reals. In 1869, the peso was decimalized and subdivided into 100 centavos. However, the real continued to be produced until 1912 when Guatemala fully decimalized.

Guatemalan quetzal coins and banknotes

The Guatemalan quetzal is subdivided into 100 centavos (cents). Currently, in circulation, coins are in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 25, 50 centavos, 1 quetzal, and banknotes are in denominations of 50 centavos, 1 quetzal, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 quetzales.

Guatemalan quetzal and the currency of peso

Peso was originally the name of the Spanish dollar (also known as the piece of eight or the eight-real coin) which was issued by Spain and minted in the Spanish Empire. Hence, Peso was used or still being used by many nations which were the former Spanish colonies.