The first European “thaler” silver coins with a diameter of about 40 mm, a weight of about 29 g and a purity of about 900 silver grades, were minted in the Austrian Tyrol during the penultimate decade of the 15th century. As they are essentially the first silver coins weighing more than 20 g since the time of the ancient Greek decadrachm, their minting marks the beginning of modern times in the field of numismatics and at the same time the starting point of the dominance of Europeans on a global scale. This currency, the thaler, will gradually be adopted by other powers, such as the Netherlands (daalder), Venice and Genoa (tallero) and will be used with related names, such as dollar in the English colonies of North Africa, to describe other silver coins of approximately the same dimensions and weight.
The presence of Habsburg thalers in the provinces of the Ottoman Empire, the Near and Middle East and the Horn of Africa became increasingly intense from the beginning of the 17th century onwards and reached its peak during the last period of the reign of Empress Maria Theresa, 1740-1780. The illustrated coin, issued shortly before her death, would be re-minted countless times until the mid-20th century and would be the main currency used throughout this period for transactions in Yemen and Somalia, Ethiopia and the Ottoman provinces around the Persian Gulf.
Maria Theresa (1740-1780)
Maria Theresa remained on the throne of the Habsburg Empire for forty years. Her coronation caused a serious dynastic problem, as women were not allowed to ascend the throne of the Holy Roman Empire, and she was thus forced to formally co-reign, first with her husband Francis I, 1740-1765, and then with her son Joseph II, 1765-1780. In Germany, her policy was purely defensive, as she had to face the aggression of Frederick the Great of Prussia. Her basically peaceful relations with the Ottoman sultans and the development of trade, both small and large, in the Balkans allowed the economic relations between the Habsburg countries and the Balkan provinces of the Ottomans, which were controlled almost exclusively by Greek and Vlach merchants, to intensify during the years of her reign, with the result that in the second half of the 18th century, Habsburg coins, of large and medium size, flooded the European provinces of the Ottoman Empire.