Posted 12/11/2012 8:49 pm
There are two countries named "Congo", right next to each other, on opposite banks of the Congo River. They are sometimes distinguished by adding the name of the capital city; your coin is from Congo-Kinshasa. Here's the example of it on WorldCoinGallery.
The country on the northwestern bank of the river, Congo-Brazzaville, is formerly French Congo; it has not issued very many coins in its own name because it is a member-state of the Bank of the Central African States and uses the Central African franc in everyday trade.
The country on the southeastern bank of the river, Congo-Kinshasa, is formerly Belgian Congo. It has always issued its own coinage, thought the name of the country has changed several times. Between 1971 and 1997, the country was known as "Zaire".
The country's motto is "Justice, Paix, Travail" - justice, peace and work. There's very little of any of those qualities in Congo-Kinshasa these days; the country seems to be always in the news for anarchy and rebellion.
The denomination-symbol, "K", is short for -kuta. The language from which this name derives uses prefixes instead of suffixes to indicate quantity; you had 1 likuta, 2 or more makuta.
The likuta was an intermediate fractional currency; in Congo/Kinshasa's rather unique monetary system, there were 100 sengi to the likuta, and 100 makuta to the zaire. But inflation quickly made both the sengi and the likuta obsolete. 1 likuta coins were only issued in this one year, 1967.
The country on the northwestern bank of the river, Congo-Brazzaville, is formerly French Congo; it has not issued very many coins in its own name because it is a member-state of the Bank of the Central African States and uses the Central African franc in everyday trade.
The country on the southeastern bank of the river, Congo-Kinshasa, is formerly Belgian Congo. It has always issued its own coinage, thought the name of the country has changed several times. Between 1971 and 1997, the country was known as "Zaire".
The country's motto is "Justice, Paix, Travail" - justice, peace and work. There's very little of any of those qualities in Congo-Kinshasa these days; the country seems to be always in the news for anarchy and rebellion.
The denomination-symbol, "K", is short for -kuta. The language from which this name derives uses prefixes instead of suffixes to indicate quantity; you had 1 likuta, 2 or more makuta.
The likuta was an intermediate fractional currency; in Congo/Kinshasa's rather unique monetary system, there were 100 sengi to the likuta, and 100 makuta to the zaire. But inflation quickly made both the sengi and the likuta obsolete. 1 likuta coins were only issued in this one year, 1967.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
