Unrecognized Countries And Their Currency, Part 1: Africa

Paper Money Guaranty - A complicated history of independent states and their efforts to remain free from colonial rule.

There have been a litany of unrecognized countries over the last few centuries, and I will highlight a number of these nations in this two-part article series.



Africa in the 1960s was a tumultuous region, and the central African state of Katanga is one such example. During the Congo Crisis that began in 1960, numerous regions that used to belong to the Belgian Congo attempted to declare themselves as sovereign states. Katanga was supported by the Belgian government because of the region's wealth and stability, and its pro-West leader Moise Tshombe wished to keep the natural resources of copper, gold and uranium out of Soviet hands. After Congolese Prime Minister and independence advocate Patrice Lumumba was overthrown and was executed by his former army chief of staff Mobutu, UN forces deposed Tshombe in 1963 and banished him to exile.

Author Owen Linzmayer reveals that initially Rwanda and Burundi notes were overprinted with "Gouvernement Katanga" on both sides. Also, Waterlow & Sons attempted to win over the Katangese government by designing several different notes themselves. Both the overprinted and W&S notes are scarce, but the Katangese francs issues starting on January 9, 1961 are more readily available. The notes were issued in 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1,000 franc denominations on January 9, 1961. A second series was issued between 1962 and 1963 with watermarked versions of the 100, 500 and 1,000 franc notes.

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