1/2 Qirat

The Hafsids ruled from Tunis and at their peak commanded Mediterranean trade routes that put their coinage in contact with Aragonese merchants, Genoese bankers, and Saharan gold caravans simultaneously. This fractional silver denomination functioned at the lowest practical tier of that exchange economy, handling transactions too small for a full qirat yet substantial enough to require metal rather than barter.

The dynasty's final decades saw progressive debasement as Ottoman pressure from the east and Spanish Habsburg pressure from the north squeezed Hafsid fiscal capacity. Pieces struck closer to 1574 — when Tunis fell definitively to the Ottomans under Sinan Pasha — tend to show rougher fabric reflecting mint disruption in the terminal years.