History of Paper Money in Palestine

History of Palestine via Paper Money

Strangely enough, all of us in our day-to-day transactions use paper money to purchase things with little knowledge of its meaning and history. Taking a closer look at the definition of paper money, ‘paper money’ is a legal tender, which obeys the state’s legal system (law) in order to conduct a valid financial transaction. With this simplistic definition, studying the history of paper money is, with no doubt, a very complex topic in a field known as numismatics. It involves not just only understanding the legal and the financial system of a given country; it also entails understanding its status from political, social and economic standpoints, past and present.

Collecting historical paper money (or as known as ‘banknotes’) is increasingly becoming the hobby for many; and by all means, it is worthwhile if one understands its purpose and value. Collecting banknotes is an excellent way of studying and understanding the history of a country; an agnostic (or neutral) history that is not written or perceived by the so-called ‘winners’. Palestine is no exception.

The history of Palestine paper money spans the following periods:

1)   Ottoman rule of Palestine – Palestine-Syria jurisdiction (just prior to the British Mandate of Palestine, post 1910 and just before 1917)

2) During the ‘military’ and ‘civil’ mandate of Palestine by Britain (between 1917 and 1948)