1 Tanga

The tanga was a Portuguese monetary unit transplanted to their Asian trading posts, and Ceylon's issues reflect the Estado da India's attempt to maintain coherent coinage across scattered coastal footholds. By the mid-1640s, Portuguese control of Ceylon was collapsing under sustained Dutch VOC pressure — Colombo would fall in 1656. Coins struck in this window were produced under genuine military siege conditions, which partly explains the characteristically crude execution found across the type.