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    Man in a superhero costume crouching in an aisle of a home renovation warehouse.

    Economic Opportunity Costs

    With his superpowers, Peter Parker would no doubt do a fabulous job of tiling his kitchen backsplash. But as Spider-Man, he has more valuable things to do with his time.

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    Take a trade mission to planet Plutopia to discover why trading without a common currency is hard.

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    Ever wondered who decides what goes on Canadian coins or bank notes? Or why our coins have certain names and our notes are different colours? Use this guide to help answer some of your money-related questions!

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Unpacking the Collection 5

By: David Bergeron


March 31, 2017

Coins from a nation that wasn’t: Araucania and Patagonia

By David Bergeron, Curator

open air meeting / assemblée en plein air

D’Antoine de Tounens in a meeting with the Mapuche people of Patagonia. (Wikimedia Commons, Jules Peco?)

It is not unusual for “micro-nations”— city-states, principalities or minor kingdoms—to produce their own currency. Having a national currency is one way that a fledgling nation can promote its independence—sometimes before there even is a nation. But this coin, from a purely conceptual country in South America, is most intriguing for the history it now represents: the attempt of an indigenous people to establish their own nation in the face of colonization. Even more intriguing, what’s stamped on the coin implies this imaginary nation had already been colonized–by France.

Antique map / ancienne carte

Patagonia from the survey by the British ships Adventure and Beagle. (Wikimedia Commons, John Arrowsmith, 1842)

In the middle of the 19th century, a French lawyer and adventurer named d’Antoine de Tounens became fascinated by the Mapuche people of the Patagonia region of South America. The Mapuche were struggling to protect their ancestral lands, their identity and their culture from colonial expansion by the governments of Chile and Argentina. De Tounens went to Chile in 1858 to meet the Mapuche, whom he admired for what he regarded as their heroic resistance, and took up their campaign for self‑determination and sovereignty. In co-operation with their leaders, de Tounens drafted a constitution for “Araucania and Patagonia”, a region located in the southern half of modern Chile and Argentina. They declared the district a kingdom and de Tounens was named as its first monarch. The Chilean government arrested him in 1862, put him on trial and declared him insane. Narrowly avoiding execution, de Tounens was deported to France.

The National Currency Collection possesses three 2-centavo coins minted for Araucania and Patagonia in 1874. What is so curious about these coins is that they claim this potential nation for France. The legend on the reverse reads “NOUVELLE FRANCE / DOS / CENTAVOS / 1874". De Tounens appeared to have baptized the nation as part of New France, yet this designation is seen nowhere else but on the coins. The coins don’t originate from South America but by some accounts may have been struck, presumably at de Tounens’ request, in Belgium.

 

coin / pièce

Araucania and Patagonia, 1874, 2 centavos pattern, obverse. (NCC 1974.151.3079a1)

coin / pièce

Araucania and Patagonia, 1874, 2 centavos pattern, reverse. (NCC 1974.151.3079b1)

De Tounens intended to take the coins back with him to Patagonia to help re-establish his kingdom. Although he returned and failed on several occasions, a number of countries did choose to recognize his fledgling state. But it was not to be. In 1878, Orélie-Antoine de Tounens (as his magisterial name was) died in France as the exiled King of Araucania and Patagonia. A successor to the office of Royal Highness to the Crown of Araucania and Patagonia (in exile) still lives in France today–Prince Antoine IV.

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Content type(s): Blog
Subject(s): Collection

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November 8, 2019

Private Atkinson’s War

By: Graham Iddon


Private Edward Atkinson’s example of trench art is what is called a “love token”—a souvenir made from a coin. It’s one man’s personal wartime experience expressed through a pocket-sized medium.
Content type(s): Blog Subject(s): Collection, History
September 16, 2019

For Teachers: National Teachers Survey

By: Heather Montgomery


The Bank of Canada Museum would like to hear from teachers across Canada to help design new online resources for economic literacy.
Content type(s): Blog Subject(s): Education
September 9, 2019

Bank Note/Billet de banque

By: Graham Iddon


The first Canadian paper money was issued in 1817, and for the next 120 years, the vast majority of Canadian bank notes were only in English.
Content type(s): Blog
July 18, 2019

RCNA Convention, 2019

By: David Bergeron


Bank of Canada Museum will be at the 66th annual convention of the Royal Canadian Numismatic Association (RCNA).
Content type(s): Blog Subject(s): Collection, News and events
July 8, 2019

Landscape Engraved

By: Graham Iddon


Retaining the landscape format but showing human activity and intervention transformed the imagery into an extended portrait of Canada and Canadians.
Content type(s): Blog Subject(s): Collection
May 24, 2019

The Hunting of the Greenback

By: Graham Iddon


During World War Two, the Bank created the Foreign Exchange Control Board (FECB). One of its major tasks was to find as many US dollars as possible to pay for American imports.
Content type(s): Blog Subject(s): About us, History
May 15, 2019

What goes up…

By: Graham Iddon


Economic bubbles continued to pop up regularly throughout history, and still do today.
Content type(s): Blog Subject(s): History
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