The ruble is not just a monetary unit, but a part of the rich history of Russia, which already spans over 700 years. Its origin and evolution are closely connected with the development of the Russian state and reflect many important historical events. We offer you a selection of interesting facts about this one of the oldest world currencies.
The ruble is the second oldest national currency in the world after the British pound sterling. It traces its history back to the 13th century, while the currencies of most other countries appeared much later and repeatedly changed their names.
Initially, the main monetary and weight unit in Rus’ was the grivna — a silver ingot weighing about 200 grams. In the 13th century, smaller parts began to be cut out of the grivna — rubles and poltinas (half a ruble). The name «ruble» comes from the word «to chop».
In addition to ingots, foreign coins also circulated in Rus’ — for example, Arab dirhams and European denarii. They came to Russian lands through international trade. Rus’ began minting its own coins only at the end of the 14th century under Dmitry Donskoy.
An important milestone in the history of the ruble was the monetary reform of Elena Glinskaya, the mother of Ivan the Terrible, in 1535-1538. She introduced a single silver denga (kopeck) weighing about 0.68 g for the whole country, as well as coins of 1/2 (half-kopeck), 1/4 (quarter-kopeck) and 2 (denga) kopecks. The kopeck itself was called so because it depicted a horseman with a spear.
In 1654, large silver coins worth one ruble were minted for the first time. At first, they were made from foreign thalers with a double-headed eagle stamped over the original image. Such rubles were called «efimki» (from the German Joachimsthaler). Later, under Peter I, rubles were minted entirely from Russian silver.
In the 17th century, Russia first encountered inflation due to the issue of large quantities of copper money. This led to the «copper riot» of 1662 in Moscow. The population did not like the fact that taxes were required to be paid in silver, and salaries were paid in devalued copper.
Under Peter I, from 1704, Russia began regularly issuing its own silver rubles weighing about 28 g, as well as copper coins. The weight of the ruble was later reduced to 18 g (from 1764) and remained so until the beginning of the 20th century.
In 1769, Catherine II introduced the first paper rubles — banknotes. At first, they could be freely exchanged for silver, but later the exchange was stopped, and banknotes became an independent means of payment.
The heaviest in history was the Constantine ruble of 1825 — it weighed 20.73 g of pure silver. This ruble was intended for the coronation of Konstantin Pavlovich, but he abdicated the throne in favor of Nicholas I. The Constantine ruble never entered circulation, becoming a very rare collector’s coin.
The design of modern ruble coins, which depict a double-headed eagle, dates back to the coins of the time of Ivan III at the end of the 15th century. Thus, the design of the ruble traces centuries of historical continuity.
In the 18th century, copper coins made up a significant part of the money circulation in Russia. By the way, the largest coin of that time was the Sestroretsk ruble of 1771. This giant copper coin had a diameter of 76 mm, a thickness of 35 mm and a weight of more than 1 kg!
In 1825, a unique incident occurred. After the death of Alexander I, his brother Konstantin was to ascend the throne, and the St. Petersburg Mint had already minted a batch of rubles with his portrait. But Konstantin unexpectedly abdicated the throne in favor of his other brother, Nikolai. As a result, the «Konstantin rubles» never entered circulation, becoming one of the rarest and most expensive coins in Russian history.
The first paper money (banknotes) appeared in Russia in 1769 under Catherine II. It is curious that in size (about 18×23 cm), they were more like a sheet of paper than the banknotes we are used to. The denominations of the first banknotes were 25, 50, 75 and 100 rubles.
Meanwhile, the Russian financial system in the late 18th — early 19th centuries suffered from inflation due to the excessive issue of banknotes. If under Catherine II a paper ruble was worth more than 60 kopecks in silver, then after the war of 1812 its value fell to 20 kopecks. Up until the 1840s, paper and silver rubles circulated in the country in parallel, with different purchasing power.
Finance Minister E.F. Kankrin decisively put an end to inflation by establishing in 1843 the mandatory exchange of banknotes for silver at a fixed rate (1:3.5 rubles). This system («silver monometallism») operated successfully until the Crimean War of 1853-56.
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Finance Minister S.Yu. Witte carried out a monetary reform in Russia, introducing the gold standard of the ruble. Paper money was freely exchanged for gold coins at a rate of 1:1. It is curious that, to please the Slavophile tastes of Nicholas II, Witte even proposed renaming the ruble to «rus», but this idea did not catch on.
Over the centuries, the ruble retained a fairly high purchasing power. Thus, in the 18th century, one could buy a chicken for 1 kopeck, and an entire hut for 3 rubles. At the beginning of the 20th century, a cow cost aboutсохраняет свою жизнеспособность и национальное своеобразие.
