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4000 Kwacha - Elizabeth II Anglo-Japanese Alliance
| Issuer | Bank of Zambia |
|---|---|
| Year | 2002 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 4000 Kwacha (4000 ZMK) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Right-facing diademed and draped effigy of Queen Elizabeth II after the portrait by Raphael David Maklouf, centered in the field. The Zambian coat of arms appears in the lower left of the field, with the denomination '4,000 KWACHA' to the lower right. The commemorative legend '100 YEARS SINCE THE ANGLO-JAPANESE ALLIANCE' arcs along the upper periphery, while '2002 ZAMBIA' and 'KWACHA' are inscribed along the lower periphery, all within a beaded border. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Central design featuring a large rayed sun motif encircled by a beaded ring, the whole enclosed within a wreath of paulownia foliage tied at the base with a decorative ribbon bow. A chrysanthemum mon appears at the top of the field flanked by two additional floral emblems, all rendered in high relief against a mirror-polished proof field. The composition is closely adapted from historical Japanese coinage of the Meiji era, evoking the iconography of the period of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. |
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| Additional information |
The Anglo-Japanese Alliance, first signed in 1902, was a genuinely consequential pact — the first formal military alliance between a European power and an Asian nation. It obligated Britain to remain neutral if Japan went to war with a single power, and to intervene if Japan faced two or more. Japan exploited that security in 1904 when it attacked Russia, knowing Britain would keep France out of the conflict. The alliance was quietly allowed to lapse in 1921 under pressure from the United States and Canada, who found its implications increasingly uncomfortable.
Zambia's role here is purely commercial — the Bank of Zambia issued numerous commemorative pieces in the early 2000s for the collector market, with no domestic connection to the subject matter.