History
The dollar replaced the South African rand, which had been the country's currency while it was under South African rule as South-West Africa 1920-1990. The rand is still legal tender, as the Namibian dollar is linked to the South African rand and can be exchanged on a one-to-one basis locally. Namibia was also part of the Common Monetary Area from independence in 1990 until introduction of the dollar in 1993.
In 1990, moves were under way to replace the rand with a new Namibian currency. The name kalahar was proposed, as the Kalahari Desert is located in eastern Namibia. The name of Namibia's central bank was going to be known as the Namibia Reserve Bank. Denominations of this planned currency included 2, 5, 10, and 20 kalahar. (Note: There were two different designs for the 20 kalahar specimen notes.) However, these plans came to nothing, but some specimen notes were printed in a range of denominations.
The Bank of Namibia issued the first banknotes on 15 September 1993, and during December of that year, also issued the first national coins.
Read more about this topic: Namibian Dollar
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“All objects, all phases of culture are alive. They have voices. They speak of their history and interrelatedness. And they are all talking at once!”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)
“The steps toward the emancipation of women are first intellectual, then industrial, lastly legal and political. Great strides in the first two of these stages already have been made of millions of women who do not yet perceive that it is surely carrying them towards the last.”
—Ellen Battelle Dietrick, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 13, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)
“Boys forget what their country means by just reading “the land of the free” in history books. Then they get to be men, they forget even more. Liberty’s too precious a thing to be buried in books.”
—Sidney Buchman (1902–1975)