5 Thebe

Botswana's thebe coinage — thebe meaning "shield" in Setswana — was introduced in 1976 when the country replaced the South African rand with its own currency, the pula, just a decade after independence. The copper-plated steel composition adopted for this later series reflects a shift driven by rising copper prices globally through the 1990s, a practical economic adjustment made by numerous smaller nations during the same period.