The dollar before the dollar was Spanish

Centuries before the dollar and the euro, there was already a coin accepted across half the world: the Spanish real de a ocho, the 'piece of eight'. Minted from American silver from mines like Potosí, it circulated as naturally in Seville as in Acapulco, Manila or the ports of China, where merchants stamped it with their own marks.

It was history's first global currency. The Manila galleon carried it from America to Asia every year, and Caribbean pirates chased it by name: the famous 'pieces of eight' of pirate novels are, literally, reales de a ocho.

The United States modelled its dollar on this coin — and that's no metaphor: the real de a ocho was legal tender in the US until 1857.

When a parrot in a film squawks 'pieces of eight!', it's asking for Spanish money.