First minted in 1741, the Austrian Maria Theresia thaler (or dollar) played a key role in Middle Eastern trade. It was declared an official trade coinage in 1857, one year before it ceased to be legal tender in Austria itself. In the Arabian Peninsula, it remained popular into the 20th century due to its high silver content.

An estimated 400 million Maria Theresa thalers were produced in several European mints and even one Indian mint between 1780 and the early 20th century. From Mediterranean ports, they made their way to Ottoman and Arab lands, including those bordering the Red Sea and the Arab-Persian Gulf.

Between the 19th and early 20th centuries, Middle Eastern and North African money was increasingly designed and produced in Europe, even if their designs hardly betray this fact. Moroccan coins like these were minted in Berlin, London or Birmingham.

In North Africa, too, currency reforms eventually led to the introduction of European-style coins and bank notes, particularly after France tightened its grip on the region with the occupation of Algeria in 1830 and Tunisia in 1881. This banknote was issued by the Bank of Algeria, the only bank authorised to issue banknotes in Tunisia at the time.

In the Middle East as well as across the Red and Arabian seas, the Arab-Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, the Maria Theresa thaler was highly regarded and used in all aspects of life, from dowry payments and jewellery to economic transactions. Muslim pilgrims, too, favoured this internationally accepted coin.

Copper coins like this one, known as Mardhouf al-Qawasim, were minted in Lanja in the Arabian Gulf in AH 1247 / AD 1831. They were used in regions ruled by the Qawasim family at the time, including Sharjah, Ras al-Khaimah, Kalba, Khor Fakkan and Diba.

This thaler with the effigy of the Austrian Emperor Francis I was countersigned in the Hijaz around 1920. Habsburg silver currency, most commonly the Maria Theresa coin, was the most popular throughout the region and used in large quantities to pay for essential commodities.

In the 19th century, several regions of the Ottoman Empire used coinage as a symbol of defiance against its overlordship. In Romania, a new monetary law in 1867 led to the first issue of national coins for the United Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia without any reference to Ottoman sovereignty.

In the 18th and early 19th centuries, the official imperial coinage of the Ottoman Empire was legal tender in all of its provinces, including the Balkans. The circulation of Ottoman coins dominated the money markets in Romania, Moldavia and Wallachia.

British Indian rupees were first used in the Gulf from the mid-19th century. The currency began circulating in the region as a result of the pearl trade between local and Indian merchants. The rupee continued as the Trucial States’ main currency until 1966.

In 1834 a governmental decree introduced the Egyptian pound (gineh) as the main currency unit. Exchange rates against European currencies circulating in Egypt were fixed, with the Egyptian pound pegged to the British pound sterling. Bank notes were issued from 1899.