One currency. Many changes.
The unit of account and its continuity define a currency. Coins, banknotes, issuers and monetary standards are evidence and profile history.
What gets a branch
The graphic uses the curated v44 currency-only graph directly. A genuinely different account unit can remain a successor even if its introduction is called decimalization. Subdividing an existing pound into 100 pence does not create a currency. Shared names, parity and conversion rates alone do not establish identity.
What stays on the profile
Same-unit rescalings, naming changes, revaluations, monetary standards, subdivisions and instrument issues remain profile history. Assignats are associated evidence on the separate livre tournois and French franc profiles, never a standalone currency. The Australian pound and dollar also retain separate identities; old and new Taiwan-dollar scales share one.
The current research
401 scoped currency/account-unit identities and 360 main relationships are displayed. 39 duplicate epochs or issue tracks were consolidated; 202 non-currency or unresolved records remain outside the tree. All 2105 claims and 1099 source records are preserved.
Secondary relationships and step-parent connector lines are hidden on the map. Their evidence remains available in currency profiles and the relationship register. There are 154 core endpoint codes mapping to 153 current identities: Gibraltar's code indexes local sterling issues. The 401-node count is research coverage, not a completed historical census.
At 1500, 36 of 154 endpoints have strict ancestry paths, 96 have ancestry paths when qualified links are included, and 96 reach the date when optional relationships are also included. Earlier coinage and unresolved units remain in the review queue; a gap means the ancestry is not yet established here.
Changing monetary anchors
12 dated relationships record explicit unit adoption or operational exchange-rate anchors. The map shows adopted monetary bases as dated diamonds and color strips beneath a currency’s own line. A strip uses the anchor’s branch colour. Documented endings have a closing tick; an open circle marks the last inspected observation when later status remains unreviewed. Event-only adoptions receive a diamond without a continuing strip. These preserve earlier ancestry, create no currency identities and never extend ancestry depth. Sharing an anchor does not create siblings; later absorption and compressed ancestry with an unresolved immediate parent are also excluded from sibling derivation.
Read the rules, dates, evidence and held candidates →
Historical currencies
Explore currencies beyond the modern survivors →. Documented endings, conversions, uncertain lifespans and graph gaps are assessed separately. Dated returns to earlier currencies are preserved outside founding ancestry.
Modern predecessors
Revision 27 audited modern succession and account-unit identity; revision 28 extends earlier account evidence and tests qualified branches. Short-lived currencies are placed with their monetary ancestry, and instrument-only or duplicate tracks are consolidated. The full review is available in the modern cleanup audit. 151 have at least one main predecessor; 3 still need a distinct predecessor. Existing links remain subject to their recorded qualifications. No empty branch is classified as de novo.
The euro catch-all incorrectly included the baht, Nepalese rupee and Iranian rial. These appear in Southeast Asian, South Asian and Iranian navigation groups. The compact layout also returns euro predecessors to their earlier branches and groups several African and Middle Eastern descendants beside their documented parents. Nearby rows do not imply immediate siblings. Grouping is editorial; only the sourced connections assert ancestry. Layout decisions and measurements →
Explore the predecessor audit → · Read the map connection audit →
Inspect every relationship classification →
Tracing toward Lydia
The earlier research is preserved: the sterling profile has a firm 807 account witness and qualified 796 evidence; Frankish reckoning has a legal-payment observation from 743–744 and a qualified c.670–675 extension. Tournois and parisis reconnect through qualified regional links. Roman solidus accounting now connects to Frankish and regional Iberian histories. Earlier Roman as–denarius accounting now connects to solidus reckoning through a qualified gold-account reform branch; the old denarius account continues alongside it. Attic drachma accounting now connects to Egyptian silver and bronze accounts and to eastern drahm–dirham reckoning, with a further qualified Indian dramma branch. The Egyptian line enters Roman denarius accounting locally. The English connection extends the qualified paths through the Roman and Frankish branches. The current descendant inventory separates structural reach from chronology-filtered ancestry. These are interpretive, regionally qualified paths; strict ancestry coverage is unchanged. Bactrian drachma documents extend the dossier, while Asangorna staters and early Indus account boundaries remain unresolved. Ephesian gold accounting and the daric remain disconnected from modern descendants. No complete evidenced account-unit ancestry chain to Lydia has been established.
45 endpoint codes reach 800 or earlier when qualified paths and optional founding references are included. The endpoint list is inherited project scope, not a fresh currency census.
Explore the poster
Scroll through the whole-history poster, then click a family band, legend entry or family selector to enlarge it. Control/Command-scroll also enters the pointed family. Within a family, drag to pan and use the wheel, pinch or +/− to zoom. Currency names open separate profile pages. Search includes earlier names and associated instruments.
Solid tracks represent currency identities; current currencies extend to the present shown in this edition, independently of the latest recorded event. Historical extents still follow dated observations where a complete lifespan has not been established. An undated current origin is shown as a short track at the present. Dashed connections show qualified primary ancestry. Secondary connectors are hidden. Vertical order is chosen for proximity; read dates and connections from left to right. Unresolved primary connections use the same dashed style, with their exact status in the evidence. A qualified early date segment is dashed only up to the supported observation. These qualifications never make every descendant currency line uncertain. Research dates and qualifications remain in profiles and evidence. Time is compressed; colours identify named ancestry branches; grey includes convergence and branches outside that palette. Neutral bands organize browsing. The old poster is a visual reference only.
Research bibliography
Browse every source and its inspection notes →
Research downloads
All modern predecessor reviews ↓
Complete revision 44 package ↓
Dated ancestry paths and qualifications ↓ · Ancient research gaps ↓
Revision 43 currency-only graph ↓
Currency profile histories and associations ↓
Complete identity decisions and crosswalk ↓
Modern endpoint audit ↓ · Paths to 1500 ↓
Complete claims, evidence and bibliography ↓
Keyboard navigation
Press / to search. In a family view, focus the map and use arrows to pan, +/− to zoom and 0 to reset. Tab reaches names and connections. Escape closes dialogs.