From Encyclopedia Jr, free information reference for Kids
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For other uses, see Lira (disambiguation).
| Lira |
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| Vittorio Emanuele II: 1 Italian lira 1863 |
Lira is the name of the monetary unit of a number of countries, as well as the former currency of Italy, San Marino and the Vatican City.
The term originates from the value of a Troy pound weight (Latin libra) of high purity silver, and as such is a direct cognate of the British pound sterling; in some countries, such as Cyprus, the words lira and pound are used as equivalents. L, sometimes in a double-crossed script form (₤) or less often single-crossed (£), is usually used as the symbol.
[edit] Former currencies
- Italian lira
- San Marinese lira
- Vatican lira
[edit] Current uses
The Turkish Lira was introduced in the mid 1870s. The New Turkish Lira, equivalent to 1,000,000 old lira, is the current currency of Turkey, issued on January 1, 2005.
The Maltese Lira, known in the Maltese language as the Lira Maltija, is the currency of Malta. It is sometimes referred to as a pound.
The Cyprus pound is called "lira" in local languages.
The Lebanese pound is called "lira" in local languages.
[edit] See also
[edit] External link
| Pre-euro and other EU currencies |
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| Eurozone |
Austrian Schilling | Belgian franc | Dutch gulden | Finnish mark | French franc | German Mark | Greek drachma | Irish pound | Italian lira | Luxembourgish franc | Monegasque franc | Portuguese escudo | San Marinese lira | Spanish peseta | Vatican lira |
| ERM II |
Cypriot pound | Danish krone | Estonian kroon | Latvian lats | Lithuanian litas | Maltese lira | Slovak koruna | Slovenian tolar |
| Other EU |
British pound | Czech koruna | Gibraltar pound | Hungarian forint | Polish złoty | Swedish krona |
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