Portugal's Estado Novo regime issued this coin for Mozambique as part of a broader colonial monetary policy that kept the overseas territories locked into Lisbon's financial orbit through the escudo zone. The series ran unusually long — over two decades — largely because Salazar, and later Caetano, saw no reason to revise colonial coinage while political control held firm.
It ended abruptly. The 1974 Carnation Revolution terminated the entire Portuguese colonial coinage program within months.
Portugal's Estado Novo regime issued this coin for Mozambique as part of a broader colonial monetary policy that kept the overseas territories locked into Lisbon's financial orbit through the escudo zone. The series ran unusually long — over two decades — largely because Salazar, and later Caetano, saw no reason to revise colonial coinage while political control held firm.
It ended abruptly. The 1974 Carnation Revolution terminated the entire Portuguese colonial coinage program within months.