אנגולה – Angola

אנגולה הפורטוגזית                
   

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אנגולה             

Angola was first established as a Portuguese colony in 1575; its status was upgraded to an overseas province in 1951. During much of its colonial period, the monetary system was the same as Portugal’s, using the milreis and the centavo. In 1911, the milreis was replaced at par with the escudo. In 1926, the Portuguese replaced the escudo at par with the angular. At the same time, the macuta, one of the local coins of Angola, was also introduced. It equaled to five centavos. The escudo was reintroduced in 1958.

Although Angola gained independence in 1975, it continued to use the escudo until 1977. In that year it was replaced by the kwanza, divisible into 100 lwei (also spelled lwee, lewys for the plural). These names were taken from two rivers – the Kwanza (also spelled Cuanza), one of the country’s main rivers, and the Lwei, a tributary of the Kwanza. All the first coins of Angola bore the date of independence ’11 de Novembro de 1975’. There came in denominations of 50 lwei, 1, 2, 5 10 and 20 kwanza