1 Bazaruco

The bazaruco was a denomination borrowed from Portuguese India, where it had circulated on the Malabar Coast before administrators transplanted the unit to Ceylon. Tin was the only practical choice here — copper was scarce on the island and had to be imported at cost, while local tin sources made low-value coinage economically viable for the colonial economy centered on Colombo.

KM#5 spans nearly two decades of issue, suggesting continuous demand rather than a single minting event. The Portuguese grip on Ceylon's coastal territories was already being contested by the Dutch VOC throughout this period, with Batavia pushing aggressively into the Indian Ocean spice routes.