Banknotes of the Indonesian rupiah

Republic of Indonesia – Rp1 (1945, first year of issue)

Netherlands Indies (Indonesia) – De Javasche Bank 5 gulden banknote (1866, first year resuming issue)

Netherlands Indies (Indonesia) – De Javasche Bank 5 gulden banknote (1937)

The first banknotes used in the archipelago that would become Indonesia were those issued by the United East India Company, credit letters of the rijksdaalder dating between 1783 and 1811. Netherlands Indies gulden government credit paper followed in 1815, and from 1827 to 1842^[1] and again from 1866 to 1948^[2] gulden notes of De Javasche Bank. Lower denominations (below 5 gulden) were issued by the government in 1919–1920 and in 1939–1940 due to wartime metal shortages, but otherwise day-to-day transactions were conducted using coinage.

Gulden notes were issued by "The Japanese Government" during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies from 1942, becoming "roepiah" in 1943.

The first truly Indonesian rupiah notes, however, were issued in 1946, during the war of independence with the Dutch, following the unilateral proclamation of independence by the Indonesians at the end of World War II on 17 August 1945. This money is known as Oeang Republik Indonesia (ORI; oeang being the old spelling of uang ("money")).

Following the negotiated peace treaty in The Hague of 1949, the ORI was withdrawn, and replaced by an internationally recognised Indonesian rupiah.

The Indonesian rupiah has been subject to numerous devaluations, and in 1965 the existing paper was withdrawn and replaced by a new rupiah at the rate of 1,000 to 1.