The pataca was a monetary unit of account used in Portuguese Timor between 1894 and 1958, except for the period 1942–1945, when the occupying Japanese forces introduced the Netherlands Indies gulden and the roepiah.
As in the case of the Macanese pataca which is still in use today, the East Timor unit was based on the silver Mexican dollar coins which were prolific in the wider region in the 19th century.
In 1901 in Macau, it was decided to create a purely local currency, and the authorities granted the Banco Nacional Ultramarino exclusive rights to print legal tender banknotes.
These pataca banknotes were launched in 1906 at[clarification needed] a sterling value of 2s 4d (2 shillings and 4 pence) — the same as the new Straits dollar that was issued in that same year.
As in the Straits Settlements, all foreign coinage was outlawed, with the intention that the new currencies should establish their own market values.
In 1942, during the Second World War, the pataca was replaced by Japanese issues of the Netherlands Indies gulden at par.