FYI: Where did the word 'dollar' come from and why do we use it in Hong Kong?

'Dollar' is the anglicised form of 'thaler', from Joachimsthaler, a coin that was made from silver mined from Joachimsthal (St Joachim's Valley) in the present day Czech Republic in the early 16th century. The rich seam discovered at Joachimsthalel produced a coin that would go on to become Europe's standard for commerce.

Today, the word 'dollar' is used for more than 20 currencies, including those of the United States, Canada, Australia and, of course, Hong Kong.

As the thaler, or dollar, increased in popularity, the name began to be used for silver coins of similar weight and fineness minted outside Central Europe and was soon being applied to the Spanish peso and Portuguese eight-real piece. Because of a shortage of official British coins, the Spanish dollar was widely circulated throughout the North American colonies as well as Spain's dominions in South America. Consequently, after the US gained independence, it chose 'dollar' as the name of its currency instead of keeping the pound.

The name first arrived in Hong Kong with the British in 1841 in the form of Spanish silver dollars, the currency of choice for Chinese traders as well as China's preferred medium for the payment of taxes and the storing of wealth.

The early colonial government made attempts to promote the British pound as Hong Kong's official currency, but because of the territory's special position as a trading port, the silver dollar, the Indian rupee and even China's copper, bronze and iron coinage continued to be accepted as legal tender, says the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). Compounding the issue, the pound was an unfamiliar gold-based currency viewed with suspicion and already in short supply.

In 1863, the British finally declared the silver dollar the only legal tender and the first Hong Kong version of it was issued in 1866. Early coins were minted at the Royal Mint in England then, in the late 1860s, production moved to a new Hong Kong mint in Causeway Bay.