OUGUIYA: COIN OF MAURITANIA
5 ouguiya, 2005: Republic of Mauritania
Date on coin: AH 1426 (AH: Latin "Anno Hegirae" — "the year of the Hijra"; Islamic calendar) = 2005 (Gregorian calendar).
BANQUE CENTRALE DE MAURITANIE: Central Bank of Mauritania.
Seal of Mauritania: crescent and star symbolizes Islam (major religion), the palm and millet represents geographical location and agriculture as the basis of the economy (sands of the Sahara desert).
5 OUGUIYA.
The obverse legend of the coin is in French, while the reverse is in Arabic (the two official languages of Mauritania).
البنك المركزي الموريتاني: Central Bank of Mauritania.
أوقيات ٥: the denomination of the coin is specified in the format "5 ounces" (5 ouguiya).
١٤٢٦: 1426.
Crescent and star as Muslim symbols in a wreath.
- Copper plated steel: 25 mm - 5.9 g
- Reference price: 1.4$
COIN OUGUIYA — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
- ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF MAURITANIA (1973-...): ouguiya = 5 khoums
OUGUIYA as coin name.
Ouguiya (Arabic "أوقية") — official currency of Mauritania (a country located in the northwestern part of Africa). The Mauritanian ouguiya, next to the Malagasy ariary (currency of Madagascar), is one of the two modern non-decimal currencies of the world: it consists of 5 khoums.
In 1973, the ouguiya replaced the Franc CFA, — the West African franc used in the territory of Mauritania in the first years after gaining independence from France in 1960.
The first coins of the denomination were issued in the same year 1973: 1, 5, 10 and 20 ouguiya. At the same time, a coin of 1/5 ouguiya was minted, but this coin is more correctly called khoums.
In 2010, a bimetallic coin with a denomination of 50 ouguiya was put into circulation for the first time.
An interesting feature of Moorish coins is the bilingual execution of the legends on them — in French and Arabic. In addition, during the first half-century of the issuance of Mauritanian coins, only once was a jubilee coin produced — a gold 500 ouguiya dedicated to the 15th anniversary of state independence.
Regarding the origin of the coin name ouguiya, in Arabic this word literally means "ounce" (a unit of weight with a venerable history: it was used to weigh money, precious metals...).
