When Indian Rupee was the Arab World’s Legal Tender

Today, the American dollar is legal tender in as many as seven sovereign nations besides the United States of America. But there was a time, not too long ago, when another currency enjoyed a similar influence far from home. It was legal tender in half a dozen countries besides its own, all of them in a region that influences the global economy more than any other on the planet today. It’s the Indian rupee. This is the rarely-told story of how a currency from a nation as impoverished as ours went on to enjoy such clout in one of the wealthiest parts of the world, and how it ended.