Chile, one of the most stable and prosperous nations in South America, has been free of the coups and arbitrary governments that have disrupted the continent. The country's legal currency is the Chilean peso (CLP) which was first established as the monetary unit in 1925, with 0.183057 grams of fine gold and divided into one hundred cents. The currency currently has banknotes of 500, 1,000, 2,000, 5,000, 10,000, and 20,000. Due to inflation, Chile transitioned from payments using fractional coins to only whole numbers as stipulated in the 1955 legal provision. On 1 January 1960, the escudo replaced the peso. Article 51 of the organic law of 30 March 1960 states that the value of the banknotes should be expressed in escudos, hundredths, and half hundredth, bearing the national emblem.
In 1975 the peso was re-established as Chile's monetary unit after a new statutory provision in 1973 removed the fractions of the escudo in the documents issued in local currency and accounting. From 29 September 1975, the currency of Chile was renamed as peso again. Currently, the Central Bank of Chile has the exclusive right to issue notes and coins, and its board is in charge of the features and choosing the design of banknotes. Between 2009 and 2011, the Central Bank of Chile created the latest family of the Chilean peso banknotes. A Mapuche symbol representing the Sun giving life to the Earth, the antú, appears in all different layouts of the new families of banknotes.
