The rupiah (Rp) is the official currency of Indonesia.Issued and controlled by the Bank of Indonesia, the ISO 4217 currency code for the Indonesian rupiah is IDR. The symbol used on all banknotes and coins are Rp. The name derives from the Indian monetary unit rupee. Informally, Indonesians also use the word "perak" ('silver' in Indonesian) in referring to rupiah. The rupiah is subdivided into 100 sen, although inflation has rendered all coins and banknotes denominated in sen obsolete.
The first paper money used in the Indonesian archipelago was that of the United East Indies Company, credit letters of the rijksdaalder dating between 1783 and 1811. Netherlands Indian gulden government credit paper followed in 1815, and from 1827 gulden notes of De Javasche Bank. Lower denominations (below 5 gulden) were issued by the government in 1919-1920 and 1939-1940, due to wartime metal shortages, but otherwise day-to-day transactions were conducted using coinage.Gulden notes were issued by 'The Japanese Government' during the occupation from 1942, becoming 'roepiah' in 1943.
The first truly Indonesian rupiah notes, however were issued in 1946, during the war of independence with the Dutch, following the unilateral declaration of independence by the Indonesians at the end of World War Two on 17 August 1945. This money is known as 'Oeang Republik Indonesia' ('oeang' being the old spelling of 'uang', in English 'money'). Following the negotiated peace treaty in The Hague of 1949, the 'ORI' was withdrawn, to be replaced by an internationally recognised 'Indonesian rupiah'.
The Indonesian rupiah has been subject to numerous devaluations, and in 1965 existing paper was withdrawn, replaced by a new currency at the rate of 1000 to 1.
The Indonesian banknotes have many series of banknote; Gulden/Roepiah banknotes, Republik Indonesia Serikat Money, De Javasche banknotes, Government banknote, Animal series, Birds series banknote, Handicraft series, Soekarno and Sudirman "the new rupiah". Will post some of the Indonesian banknote series next time.
Source: Wikipedia
