The 2000 Portuguese escudo note front design features a portrait of Bartolomeu Dias (c. 1450-1500), a Portuguese sailor and explorer who was the first European navigator to round the southern tip of Africa in 1488. Dias demonstrated that the most influential south course was in the open ocean west of the African coast. This discovery allowed the establishment of effective maritime routes between Europe and Asia, followed by a Cruzado coin of Dom João II (King of Portugal from 1481 to 1495).
The reverse of the note illustrates the São Cristóvão and São Pantaleão (sailing ships), followed by a compass and a map indicating the location of the Cape of Good Hope (Cape of Good Hope), a rocky promontory on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. The lettering of the note is presented in the Portuguese language. This note is part of the 1995 – 2000 series, and its color is blue-violet and deep blue-green on a multicolor underprint.
Part of the Portuguese Escudo banknotes series, the Banco de Portugal issued banknotes in 6 different denominations, including this 2000 Portuguese Escudos banknote (Bartholomeu Dias 1995). The Banco de Portugal started issuing these 2000 Portuguese Escudo banknotes in 1996. They were withdrawn from circulation in 2002 after the introduction of the euro in 1999.
The escudo was introduced in 1722 and was minted during the 18th century. Nazi Germany used Swiss banks to acquire the escudos as foreign money to purchase in Portugal and other neutral nations during World War II. The escudo was used in the Portuguese mainland, the Azores, Madeira, and Portugal’s African colonies; the escudo was generally used up to independence, in the form of Banco Nacional Ultramarino and Banco de Angola banknotes.
Between 1917 and 1925, the Casa da Moeda introduced notes in denominations of 5, 10 and 20 centavos. At the same time, the Bank of Portugal introduced notes in denominations of 50 cents, $ 1, $ 2, $ 5, $ 10, $ 20, $ 50, $ 100, $ 500, and $ 1,000 between 1913 and 1922. The 50 centavos and $1 note were withdrawn in 1920, followed by the 2, 5$ and 10$ notes in 1925 and 1926. The $ 5,000 note was launched in 1942, and the last $ 20 and $ 50 notes were issued in 1978 and 1980, respectively, with $ 100 notes being replaced by coins in 1989, the same year as the $ 10,000 note. Until February 28, 2022, the last series of escudo banknotes can be returned to Banco de Portugal’s central bank and converted to euros.
