Collection: Cambodia Riel Banknotes

The information about Campodia.

Cambodia also called Kampuchea is a country located on the Indochinese mainland of Southeast Asia and borders the Gulf of Thailand to the Southwest. The capital and largest city of Cambodia is Phnom Penh. Its area is 69,898 square miles. The official language in Cambodia is Kmer. Cambodia was a territory under France in 1863 and declared its independence in 1953.

The history of Cambodian Riel.

After declaring independence, the government of Cambodia had introduced their new currency riel (KHR). the Riel was divided into two separate notes.

The first riel was introduced in 1953 by Cambodia. The origin of the riel was unknown, some suggested it derived from the Kmer word for small fish, some say it started from the high silver Mexican real was used in Chinese or Indians. The banknote denomination of the first riel was available from 1 riel note to 5 000 riels notes. However, it was abolished by the Khmer Rouge in 1975 and no official currency had been used from 1975 to 1999.

In 1978, the Vietnam invasion had expelled the Khmer Rouge and the riel was able to reintroduce to the nation on April 1, 1980. Because of no current currency to replace an unorganized government, the new riel was giving away to increase its users. The denomination of riel are 100, 500, 1 000, 2 000, 5 000, 10 000, 15 000, 20 000, 50 000 and 100 000 riels notes. These banknotes were featured with a portrait of the King of Cambodia Norodom Sihanouk.