1 Penny

Zambia's first decimal coinage, issued in 1966, replaced the Rhodesia and Nyasaland series following independence in 1964 and the country's formal break from British colonial monetary arrangements. The two-year gap between independence and the new coinage reflects the logistical and political difficulty of establishing a national currency infrastructure from scratch — the kwacha and ngwee system required entirely new dies, distribution networks, and public education campaigns before it could launch.