Tanzanian Money

Tanzanian Currency: Banknotes II

After the dissolution of the East African Currency board into three independent central baks of Kenya Uganda and Tanzania in 1966, each of the three east african countries had their own Shilling. The first Tanzanian Banknotes to be released by the Bank of Tanzania were also in denominations of 5, 10, 20 and 100 Tz. Shillings. The front face had the picture of President Julius Nyerere while the back face had various Tanzanian features. The 5 Shilling banknote had a picture of Mount Kilimanjaro; the 10 Shillings banknote had a sisal estate; the 20 shilling banknote had a the great Mwadui Diamond mine; and the 100 hundred shilling had a Maasai herdsman.
5 Tz Shilling

10 Tz Shilling

20 Tz Shilling

100 Tz Shilling

However, the image of a maasai herdsman was not well recievd by the public as it made them appear as a natural attraction or an economic center. Therefore the next release of these banknotes in 1969 had been redesigned and the maasai image was replaced by the image of wild animals in Serengeti.
100 Tz Shilling

These banknotes continued in circulation until 1978 when they were redesigned, and the five shilling banknote was retired from circulation. In the new design, the image of mwalimu Nyerere was changed from that of a youthful Nyerere of pre-independence to a more matured authoritative figure; and the notes were written entirely in kiswahili. The front face of all notes were similar while the back faces had a map of Tanzania and carried images that represented Tanzania of that time. The 10 shilling banknote had Mount Kilimanjaro, a makonde carving an the Arusha Declaration monument; the 20 shillings banknote had a spinning mill in a textile plant, which indicated the rise of industrial activties in the Nation. The 100 shilling banknote had educational activties from primary school to universities. Education for self reliance, which was one of the ingrediates of the education system, is depicted by the picture of pupils cultivating land with handhoes
10 Tz Shilling

20 Tz Shilling

100 Tz Shilling

The banknotes were redesigned and released in 1984 before Nyerere stepped down. The new design was more colorful showing an image of the aging President Nyerere. The 10 Shilling banknote was retired from circulation and a new banknote of 50 Shillings was introduced. The back of the 20 shillings banknote showed various industrial activities, while the back of the 50 Shilling banknote showed a self-help spirit in constructing primary schools. The back of the 100 banknote had an image showing graduation processign and facilities at the university of dar es salaam. This image was intended to show strides made in the are of higher education in the nation.
20 Tz Shilling

50 Tz Shilling

100 Tz Shilling

When Nyerere stepped down in 1985 and Mwinyi took over. The new banknotes that were released in 1986 did not change in design, but the image of Nyerere was replaced by that of Mwinyi except on the 100 Shilling note. Due to massive delavuation of the shilling that followed under mwinyi, higher denominations became necessary, and a new 200 Shilling banknote was issued. At that time, the 200 shilling was popularly known as the “Double Cabin;” the back of this note had an image showing Zanzibari fishermen and a scribe of clove.
20 Tz Shilling

50 Tz Shilling

100 Tz Shilling

200 Tz Shilling

By 1988, the demand for more money in circulation forced the bank of Tanzania to release another high denomination banknote of 500 Shillings, known at that time as the “Pajero.” The design of the 500 banknote was quite different from that of the other notes. It had a colored coat of arms and a clear Bank Of Tanzania logo. Its back face had an image of women picking coffee.
500 Tz Shilling

The shilling continued to deteriolate against the US dollar, hence the demand for more high denomination bankotes contuned to rise. In 1990, a new 1000 Shilling banknote was released. The design of this banknote was similar to the 500 shilling note. Its backface showed Tanganyika Packers plant in Kawe Dar es Salaama as an indication of the industrial activities in Tanzania. Although its coat of arms was not colored, it had a clear BOT logo with a background inscription of 1000.
1000 Tz Shilling

Tanzanian banknoes of that time were rather wide. Towards the end of 1992, major changes happend in the Tanzanian currency. The 20 Shilling note was retired from circulation, while notes of 50, 100, 200, 500 and 100 Shillings were redesigned by reducing their size with slight changes in their apperance. New bankontes of 5000 and 10,000 Shillings were introduced.
50 Tz Shilling

100 Tz Shilling

200 Tz Shilling

500 Tz Shilling

1000 Tz Shilling

5000 Tz Shilling

10000 Tz Shilling

These new notes continued in circulation until the end of Mwinyi’s tenure in office. When Mkapa took over the presedinecy, his policy was not to use the president’s image on the currency. The front face of all banknotes released in 1997 under Mkapa had a girrafe head, symboling the national animal since colonial times. Banknotes in denominations of 50, 100 and 200 Shilling notes were retired from circulation; the first release of banknotes in 1997 were as follows
500 Tz Shilling

1000 Tz Shilling

5000 Tz Shilling

10000 Tz Shilling

After the death of Mwalimu Nyerere in 1999, it was decided that the 1000 Bank not will permenently carry the portrait of Mwalimu. Hence, this note was redesigned as follows:
1000 Tz Shilling

These notes continued in circulation until 2003 when they were redesigned to add more security features. The girrafe head on the front face was replaced with various popular animals of Tanzania; the image on Nyerere continued to feature the 1000 Shilling note. A new banknote of 2000 Shillings was introducesd. The back faces had pictures of various econom,ic activtities, historical sites and an educational symabol. These notes were written in both English and Swahili instead of swahili alone. These notes are still in circulation today, they are shown in the following pictures.
500 Tz Shilling

1000 Tz Shilling

 2000 Tz Shilling

5000 Tz Shilling

10000 Tz Shilling

Tanzanian money after Independence

Tanzania Money:  (Coins-Post Independence)

In 1966, the East Africa Currency Board was dissolved resulting in three independent central banks: The Bank of Tanzania, The Bank of Kenya and The Bank of Uganda.
The bank of Tanzania issued the Tanzanian Shilling coins in denominations of 5 cents, 20 cents, 50 cents and 1 shilling. The 5 cents coins was in bronze, the 20 cents in nickel-brass while the 50 sents and 1 shilling coins were in cupro-nickel. These coins ccarried a portrait of Mwalimu Nyerere and continued in circulation for almost 20 years while President Nyerere was in power. Images of these coins are shown below.
5 Cents

20 Cents

50 Cents

1 Shilling

In 1972, a 5 shillings coin was introduced also with a portrait of Nyerere. At that time its wa popularly known as the “Scania.” This coin was also in cupro-nickel and its image is shown below. It is believed that the first 5 Shillings coin was released as comemorative coin to mark 10 years of independence, however, the first version did not stay long in circvulation. At one time, it was believed to have been cast in precious matela that far exceeded the face value of the coin and became an object of interest to many fortune hunters.
5 Shilling

In 1974, very few coins of 25 shillings and 1000 shillings were released, I think, mainly for collectors. Many people never saw them. The apperance of the 25 coin is shown in the following image.

As the shilling value continued to decline, the 5 cents coin became almost useless, and in 1977 just after the birth of CCM, a 10 cents coin was introdued as an eventual replacement of the 5 cents coin. This coin was just like the 20 cents coin in nickel-brass: its image is shown below.

Following the FAO regional conference for Africa that was held in Arusha, Tanzania, from 18  to 28 September 1978, commemorative coins were released in 5 Shillings as showin in the following picture.

It is believed that several commemorative coins were released duing Nyerere’s era, but electronic records for most of them are missing. The last coin to be released under Nyerere’s watch was the 20 shilling coin that was released in 1982 to commemorate 20 years of independence. Its image is shown below.

After Nyerere had stepped down in 1985 and the presidency taken by Mr Mwinyi, the coins were redesigned into different material and dimensions; they were relatively smaller in size with the portrait of Mwinyi. Following massive devealuation of the shilling by Mwinyi, the 5, 10 and 20 cents became useless: they were retired from circulation. The first release of coins under Mwinyi in 1987 were in denominations of 50 cents, 1 shilling,  5 shillings and 10 shillings. They had the portrait of Mwinyi except the 10 shilling coin which carried the portraint of Nyerere as the founding father of the nation. The 50 sents and 1 shilling coins were minted in nickel-clad while the 5 shilling and the 10 shillin coins were in cupro-nickel. These coins are shown below, note that the the 5 shilling coin is octagonal in shape instead of the old decagon.
50 cents

1 shilling

5 shillings

1o shillings

However, as the shilling continued to decline, the Bank of Tanzania responded 1990 by minting the 5, and 10 shilling coins in nickel-clad-steel, and released a new 20 shiling coins shown below. At one time, a commemorative 5 Shilling coin was issued to mark the opening of the new Bank of Tanzania building; I could’t get its image.

Towards the end of Mwinyi reign, new 100 brass coins were released in 1994 with the portrait of Mwalimu Nyerere as a replacement of the 10 coin which had become almost useless in circulation. At that time the 50 cents,  1 shilling and the 5 shilling coins were also retired from circulation.

After Mkapa came to power, he abolished the system of casting images of reiging presidents on the currency; he wanted images of founding fathers to remain on the currency permanently. However, he did not want dowangrade the contribution of President Mwinyi ni building the nation, so new coins did not carry the portrait of Mkapa, instead they carried images of the founding fathers of the nation, Mwalimu Nyerere and Sheikh Karume as well as President Mwinyi. The first release was in 1996 where denominations of 50 shillings and 100 shillings coin were released.  The 100 Shilling coin did not change from its preveious design; howevere, the 50 Shillings coin was new in circulation, minted in brass carrying the portrait of Mwinyi as shown below.

In the same year, coins in 200 shillings were released to commemorate the 35th of independence and the 26th olympic games in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. These coins were bimetallic in copper and   nickel.



In the year 1997, two comemorative coins were released in 200 shilling and 500 shilling denominations. The 200 Shiling coins was released to mark the wild life of africa daya, and the 500 shilling coin was released to mark 75 years since the East African tour of Queen Elizabeth, the quee’s mother Elizabeth and her husband in 1923. Their images are as shown below.
200 Shillings
 
500 Shillings

In 1998, all 200 Shilling comemorative coins were replaced by a brass 200 Shiling coin that carried the portrait of Sheikh Karume as shown below. Along with it was a 500 coin released to promote Wildlives of Serengeti.
200 Coin

500 Coin

Since then, no new coins have been released. Coins in circulation have remained to be 50, 100 and 200 shillings only with portraits of Mwinyi, Nyerere and karume respectively. However, all retired coins are still legally accepted in all finacial transactions.