5 Rupees Independence

Seychelles gained independence from Britain on June 29, 1976, and this coin was part of the inaugural coinage issued for the new republic — one of the smallest nations by population to achieve independence during the 1970s wave of decolonization in the Indian Ocean region. The series was designed to replace the Seychelles rupee coinage that had circulated under the British administration since 1939.

James Mancham, the country's first president, was deposed in a coup just one year after independence while attending the Commonwealth Conference in London.