10 Senti

Tanzania's first post-independence coinage series was launched under considerable pressure to assert a distinct national identity following the 1964 union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. The 1977 reissue of this denomination coincided with Julius Nyerere's *Ujamaa* collectivization program, which was by that point in serious economic difficulty — agricultural output had collapsed, and Tanzania was increasingly dependent on foreign aid. Coins from the later dates in this run, particularly 1984, circulated into a economy gripped by shortages severe enough that the government briefly considered abandoning the shilingi altogether.