Brazilian Cruzeiro

Brazilian Cruzeiro

The Cruzeiro was the currency of Brazil from 1942 to 1986 (two distinct currencies) and again between 1990 and 1993. The name refers to the constellation of the Southern Cross, known in Brazil as Cruzeiro do Sul, or simply Cruzeiro. Visible just in the Southern Hemisphere, the Southern Cross is the main astronomical reference to identify the south and is a common cultural icon in Brazilian history.

The first cruzeiro circulated between 1942 and 1967 and had the symbol Cr or ₢ (in Unicode U+20A2 ₢ cruzeiro sign (HTML: ₢)) and the ISO 4217 code BRZ. The ₢ sign was the only proper monetary symbol already created to Brazilian currencies. All the others used combinations of uppercase letters and the dollar sign, including the current Brazilian Real, which uses R$ as sign.

Due to economic crisis and severe inflation, a second cruzeiro was released in 1967 and circulated up to 1986. Firstly it had the symbol NCr and was named cruzeiro novo (New Cruzeiro in Portuguese), circulating until 1970. Then, was renamed to cruzeiro again and its sign changed to Cr$ (1970–1986), with the ISO 4217 code BRB. Although the name was restored, the ₢ sign was dropped due to the lack of practical support (rare typewriters did offer it, which was also difficult to find in metal types).

Again after severe economical crisis and repeated currency changes, a third cruzeiro was created in 1990. It reissued the symbol Cr$ and had the ISO 4217 code BRE. All three cruzeiros were subdivided into 100 centavos.

Nowadays, the ₢ sign is available in standard Brazilian keyboard layout (ABNT2 keyboard) through the combination AltGr + C. But the sign is not used and most people do not even know about it.