The Portuguese escudo was the currency of Portugal prior to the introduction of the euro on 1 January 1999 and the removal of the escudo from circulation on 28 February 2002. The escudo was subdivided into 100 centavos. The word escudo derives from the scutum shield.
Amounts in escudos were written as escudos $ centavos with the cifrão as the decimal separator (e.g. 25$00 means $25.00, 100$50 means $100.50). Because of the conversion rate of 1000 réis = $1, three decimal places were initially used ($1 = 1$000).
