2000 Shilingi 20th Anniversary of Independence

Tanzania's independence came in December 1961, but the 20th anniversary commemoratives were issued under Julius Nyerere's government at a moment of acute economic strain — the aftermath of the costly 1978–79 war against Idi Amin's Uganda had left the national treasury badly depleted. A gold commemorative of this weight in that fiscal climate was an exercise in foreign currency generation rather than domestic celebration; these pieces were never intended for circulation within Tanzania.

Mintage figures for this issue remain poorly documented in the major references.