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The History of the Finnish Markka (1860 – 2002 )

Prehistory

The oldest coins found in Finland are about 2000 years old. In museums there are some Roman copper coins from that period. Silver coins became common in the ninth century. Coins were brought to Finland when trading furs. The Finnish word ‘raha’ (money) has its origin in the word ‘fur’.

The period of Swedish money

In the 13th and 14th centuries there was a mint working in Turku where Swedish kings stroke coins.

During the reign of King Gustav Vasa the ?re, the mark and the thjaler were issued in the kingdom of Sweden-Finland.

The period of Russian reign

When Russia had conquered Finland the rouble was declared the official currency in the grand duchy in 1809. The Bank of Finland was established in 1811 and some thirty years later Swedish money was withdrawn from circulation and the Russian silver rouble became the only legal tender.

Senator J.V. Snellman and other pro-Finnish statesmen fed the rulers in St. Petersburg with the ideas that the rouble was too big a unit for a small country like Finland. After years of shilly-shallying Finland obtained its own monetary unit, the markka, (the mark) in 1860. Its value was a quarter of the rouble. The mark got its name according to a monetary unit which was well-known in northern Europe. In the kingdom of Sweden-Finland the mark was used until 1776.

In the beginning of the 1860’s Finland was the only country where the mark was used. Germany took the name of the mark for its money ten years later.

In 1865 silver money became the sole legal tender and the mark was linked to silver replacing the rouble as a means of payment. Thirteen years later the mark was begged to gold.

In 1886 The Bank of Finland was granted the sole right to issue banknotes in Finland. Design of the first banknotes to be manufactured at the bank’s own printing works commenced in the same year and the notes were in circulation three years later.

In 1915 the Bank of Finland suspended the redemption of banknotes in gold.

After Finland’s independence ( 6 December 1917 )

In 1926 Finland returned to the gold standard and five years later it was effectively abandoned.

In 1948 Finland joins in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (IBRD); the international par value of the mark was defined (officially in 1951 ) in terms of gold and the US dollar In the late 1950’s the mark became an externally convertible currency again.

In 1963 the currency reform was carried out: 1 new mark = 100 old marks.

In the beginning of 1970 the fixed value of the mark in terms of gold is abandoned as the basis for exchange rates and the Bank of Finland started to steer the external value of the mark making use of a currency-basket index. At the end of the year 1986 new 10 and 500 mark banknotes were put into circulation and in 1991 the external value of the mark was defined in relation to the ECU, the currency unit of the European Community.

In 1992 the mark was put to float and a year later new one, five, and ten mark coins were issued as well as 20 mark banknotes. In 1995 Finland became a member of the European Union and also joined the Economic and Monetary Union, EMU and a year later joined the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM). In 1999 the EURO was launched as an account currency and three years later new EURO coins and banknotes were issued and the markka became history.