A glimpse of Acehnese Currency around the 16th Century

An English sailor named John Davis who worked on a Dutch ship landed in the port of Aceh in June 1599. He pointed out that in Aceh there are various means of payment such as cashes (Aceh: keueh, Portuguese: caxa), mas, cowpan (kupan) , pardaw and tayel (tahil). He only saw two coins, the other one made of lead, called caxas. He adds that 1600 cashes equals 1 mas, 400 cashes equals 1 kupan, 4 kupan equals 1 mas, 5 mas equals 4 shilling sterlig, 4 mas equals 1 pardaw, and 4 pardaw equals 1 tahil.

In 1691 there was a book on the calculation of the value of gold and silver as well as on the size and weight of the Eastern Continent entitled "Ujtrekening van de Goude en Silvere Munts Waardye, Inhout der ilfaten en Swoorte der Gewigten, in de Respective Gewesten van Indien". In the book mentioned that in Aceh one tail is 16 mas dirman. One Spanish ringgit or commonly called reyal or ringgit cannon equal to four mas. In addition, Van Langen, a high-ranking Dutch official in 1888, stated that the value of Sri Sultanah Taj al-Alam Safiat ad-Din dirham (1641-1675) in the Aceh Dar as-Salam kingdom was EO 625 (sixty-two and a half Dutch East Indies ).

Kreemer, an expert on Aceh, based on sources from John Davis writes that 1 tail equals 4 pardu. Pardu is the silver currency that is forged by the Portuguese in Goa. 1 Pardu is equal to 4 dirhams (mace, mas), 1 dirham equal to 4 kupan (small silver currency), and 1 kupan equal to 400 keueh. In Portuguese keueh or caxa made of brass and tin, which in Dutch is called kasja or kasje

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