MADAGASCAR 50 centimes 1943

Description

Struck in British South Africa after the Vichy government was kicked out.

Madagascar is the main island of the Republic of Madagascar. It is a bit smaller than the American State of Texas, inhabited by about 30 million people. There is a very specialized species distribution. The people are a mix of Polynesian and African ancestors. The main island was united early in the 19th century. The unified government was harsh. There were several Queens. British influence grew until a deal was made, allowing the French a free hand. They invaded and occupied Madagascar. There was a tradition of forced labor on the island, continued by the French. Independence movements developed in the 20th century. Independence in 1958 was peaceful. It has gone through four different constitutions.

It has been habitual, on the collecting side of numismatics, for “Africa” to exclude the Mediterranean coastal states, which are typically lumped in with the other Arab states in the category “Middle East.” Generally speaking, there was a colonial period and an independent period.

By “Modern World Coins” we mean here, generally, the round, flat, shiny metal objects that people have used for money and still do. “Modern,” though, varies by location. There was some other way they were doing their economies, and then they switched over to “modern coins,” then they went toward paper money, now we’re all going toward digital, a future in which kids look at a coin and say “What’s that?” We’ll say: “We used to use those to buy things.” Kids will ask “How?” The main catalog reference is the Standard Catalog of World Coins, to which the KM numbers refer.