Bermuda is a self-governing British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean. It is an archipelago made of seven main islands and about 170 named islets and rocks that is located 1,050 km east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
Bermuda used the pound sterling as its currency until February 6, 1970, when it adopted the dollar. The pound sterling banknotes all featured a portrait of the reigning monarch on the obverse side and the royal crest on the reverse side. The dollar banknotes replaced the royal crest design on the reverse side with the different landmarks and major island towns. All of the Bermudan banknotes feature a British monarch: King George V from 1920 to 1936, King George VI from 1937-1951, and various portraits of Queen Elizabeth II from 1952 to 2007. In 2007, the Bermuda Monetary Authority issued redesigned banknotes to commemorate both the 40th year of BMA’s services and the 400th year of its settlement by British explorer Sir George Somers. These banknotes are vertically-oriented and featured different local species of animals on the obverse side and various landmarks on the reverse side. The 2-dollar note received the IBNS Bank Note of the Year award in 2009.
