1 Dollar - Elizabeth II Vasco Da Gama

Vasco da Gama's 1498 arrival on the Malabar Coast opened direct European sea trade with India, bypassing the Ottoman-controlled overland routes that had made spices ruinously expensive in European markets. Cook Islands has issued explorer-themed collector pieces like this one prolifically since the 1990s, targeting the thematic coin market rather than domestic circulation — the islands' own population could not absorb the volume produced.