ABSTRACT
National currencies are neither the necessary nor the inevitable outcome of the historical development ofmoney. As the first part ofthis volume illustrates, money was organised quite differently before their emergence. Moreover, even as national currencies became the predominant form of organising money in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, they have never been completely homogenous. Various forms of alternative currencies have often circulated alongside national currencies, and national currencies have also been earmarked in various ways, undermining their apparent homogeneity. Also, some countries - such as the African members ofthe CFA franc zone -'- have never had a national currency. Others do not have as absolute a national currency as is sometimes suggested; for example, in their proud defence of Great Britain's national currency, many in England forget that private banks still issue different 'national' notes only for circulation in Scotland.
