The Pula (also known as the Botswana dollar) is the

currency A currency is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general definition is that a currency is a ''system of money'' in common use within a specific envi ...

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

. It has the

ISO 4217 ISO 4217 is a standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) that defines alpha codes and numeric codes for the representation of currencies and provides information about the relationships between individ ...

code ''BWP'' and is subdivided into 100 ''thebe''. ''Pula'' literally means "rain" in Setswana, because

rain Rain is a form of precipitation where water drop (liquid), droplets that have condensation, condensed from Water vapor#In Earth's atmosphere, atmospheric water vapor fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is res ...

is very scarce in Botswana—home to much of the

Kalahari Desert The Kalahari Desert is a large semiarid climate, semiarid sandy savanna in Southern Africa covering including much of Botswana as well as parts of Namibia and South Africa. It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African ...

—and therefore valuable and a blessing. The word also serves as the national motto of the country. A sub-unit of the currency is known as ''thebe'', or "shield", and represents defence. The names were picked with the help of the public.

History

The pula was introduced on 23 August 1976, subsequently known as "Pula Day", replacing the

rand The RAND Corporation, doing business as RAND, is an American nonprofit global policy think tank, research institute, and public sector consulting firm. RAND engages in research and development (R&D) in several fields and industries. Since the ...

at par. One hundred days after the pula was introduced, the rand ceased to be legal tender in Botswana.

Coins

In 1976, coins were introduced in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 thebe. The 1 thebe was struck in aluminium, with the 5 thebe in bronze and the others in

cupro-nickel Cupronickel or copper–nickel (CuNi) is an alloy of copper with nickel, usually along with small quantities of other metals added for strength, such as iron and manganese. The copper content typically varies from 60 to 90 percent. ( Monel is a ...

. These coins were round except for the scalloped 1 pula. Bronze,

dodecagon In geometry, a dodecagon, or 12-gon, is any twelve-sided polygon. Regular dodecagon A regular polygon, regular dodecagon is a figure with sides of the same length and internal angles of the same size. It has twelve lines of reflective symmetry ...

al 2 thebe coins were introduced in 1981 and discontinued after 1985. In 1991, bronze-plated steel replaced bronze in the 5 thebe, nickel-plated steel replaced cupro-nickel in the 10, 25 and 50 thebe and the 1 pula changed to a smaller,

nickel Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

, equilateral-curve seven-sided coin. A similarly shaped, nickel-brass 2 pula was introduced in 1994. In 2004, the composition was changed to brass-plated steel and the size was slightly reduced. Following the withdrawal of the 1 and 2 thebe in 1991 and 1998 respectively, smaller 5, 10, 25 and 50 thebe coins were introduced, with the 5 and 25 thebe coins being seven-sided and the 10 and 50 thebe coins remaining round. A bimetallic 5 pula depicting a mopane caterpillar and a branch of the mopane tree it feeds on was introduced in 2000 composed of a cupronickel centre in a ring made of aluminium-nickel-bronze. A new series of coins was introduced in 2013. All previous coins were demonetized with effect from 28 August 2014, and remained exchangeable to current coins for 5 years until 28 August 2019. The word "Ipelegeng" is found on the coins, which literally means "to carry your own weight" or "to be self-sufficient or independent" but in general has various different meanings in the Tswana language.

Banknotes

On 23 August 1976, the

Bank of Botswana The Bank of Botswana (BoB; ) is the central bank of Botswana. When Botswana gained independence from Britain in 1966, the country was part of the Common Monetary Area, Rand Monetary Area (RMA). In 1974 Botswana withdrew from the RMA, and the Ban ...

introduced notes in denominations of 1, 2, 5, and 10 pula; a 20 pula note followed on 16 February 1978. The 1 and 2 pula notes were replaced by coins in 1991 and 1994, whilst the first 50 and 100 pula notes were introduced on 29 May 1990 and 23 August 1993, respectively. The 5 pula note was replaced by a coin in 2000. The original 1, 2 and 5 pula banknotes were demonetized on 1 July 2011. The current series of notes was introduced on 23 August 2009 and contains, for the first time, a 200 pula banknote. In response to the concern of the poor quality of the paper of the 10 pula banknote, the Bank of Botswana unveiled a 10 pula banknote in

polymer A polymer () is a chemical substance, substance or material that consists of very large molecules, or macromolecules, that are constituted by many repeat unit, repeating subunits derived from one or more species of monomers. Due to their br ...

in November 2017 which was issued to the public on 1 February 2018. In 2020, the Bank of Botswana issued a new 10 pula polymer banknote that features an image of the current President of Botswana, Mokgweetsi Masisi.10 Pula
Numista (https://en.numista.com). Retrieved on 2021-09-19.

Use in Zimbabwe

Due to

hyperinflation in Zimbabwe Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe is an ongoing period of currency instability in Zimbabwe which, using Phillip D. Cagan, Cagan's definition of Hyperinflation#Definition, hyperinflation, began in February 2007. During the height of inflation from 200 ...

from 2006 to 2008, the government of Zimbabwe has allowed circulation of foreign currency since 2008. The Zimbabwean dollar became obsolete on 12 April 2009. Several currencies, including the

South African rand The South African rand, or simply the rand, (currency sign, sign: R; ISO 4217, code: ZAR) is the official currency of South Africa. It is subdivided into 100 Cent (currency), cents (sign: "c"), and a comma separates the rand and cents. The Sou ...

and Botswana pula, circulate in

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

,Alongside Zimbabwean dollar (suspended indefinitely from 12 April 2009),

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

US dollar The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

pound sterling Sterling (symbol: £; currency code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound is the main unit of sterling, and the word '' pound'' is also used to refer to the British currency general ...

Indian rupee The Indian rupee (symbol: ₹; code: INR) is the official currency of India. The rupee is subdivided into 100 '' paise'' (Hindi plural; singular: ''paisa''). The issuance of the currency is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India. The Reserve ...

Australian dollar The Australian dollar (currency sign, sign: $; ISO 4217, code: AUD; also abbreviated A$ or sometimes AU$ to distinguish it from other dollar, dollar-denominated currencies; and also referred to as the dollar or Aussie dollar) is the official ...

Chinese yuan The renminbi ( ; currency symbol, symbol: Yen and yuan sign, ¥; ISO 4217, ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB), also known as the Chinese yuan, is the official currency of the China, People's Republic of China. The renminbi is issued by the Peop ...

and

Japanese yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the euro. Th ...

. The US dollar has been adopted as the official currency for all government transactions in Zimbabwe. along with the Zimbabwean bond notes and bond coins.

Lesotho

The word ''pula'' also serves as part of the national motto of the Kingdom of Lesotho. As in Botswana, it means "rain" in the

Sotho language Sotho (), also known as ''Sesotho'' (), Southern Sotho, or ''Sesotho sa Borwa'' is a Southern Bantu languages, Southern Bantu language spoken in Lesotho as its national language and South Africa where it is an official language. Like all Ba ...

and is considered a synonym for "blessing".

References

* * *Schön, Günter und Gerhard, ''Weltmünzkatalog 1900–2010'', 39. Auflage, 2011, Battenberg Gietl Verlag,

External links

Historical banknotes of Botswana
{{Portal bar, Africa, Money, Numismatics Currencies of Africa Currencies of Botswana Currencies of Zimbabwe Currencies introduced in 1976 Currency symbols Circulating currencies