Mauritius Elizabeth II 10 Rupees

History

10 Rupees 1971, KM# 38a, Mauritius, Elizabeth II, Independence of Mauritius

Obverse. Photo © Numismatic Guaranty Company

Description

British Mauritius was a British crown colony. Formerly part of the French colonial empire, the crown colony of Mauritius was established after a British invasion in 1810 and the subsequent Treaty of Paris that followed. It later gained independence as a Commonwealth realm on 12 March 1968.

Mauritius gained independence from the United Kingdom on 12 March 1968. The independence process was the culmination of a long struggle involving a number of political parties. Most notably the Mauritius Labour Party (MLP) and the Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate (PMSD).

In 1960, Harold Macmillan had made his famous "Wind of Change Speech" in the Parliament of South Africa in Cape Town in which he acknowledged that the best option for Britain was to give complete independence to its colonies. Thus, since the late fifties, the way was paved for independence. The General Election was held in 1967 with the pro-independence coalition of political parties winning 54% of the vote. Following the 1967 election the newly formed Mauritian government government was formed and passed an independence bill in the Mauritian Parliament.: 102 Mauritius experienced a period of instability in the days running up to the declaration resulting in the 1968 Mauritian riots before order was restored by the British authorities. On 12 March 1968 independence was officially declared at a ceremony at the Champ de Mars Racecourse.

Obverse	Crown, jewelry Tudor Crown Person (king, queen, tsar etc.) Elizabeth II First crowned portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II facing right, wearing the stylized heraldic Tudor Crown with date. The Tudor Crown, also known as the King's Crown or Imperial Crown, is a widely used symbol in heraldry of the United Kingdom. While various crown symbols had been used for this purpose for many years previously, the specific Tudor Crown design was standardised at the request of Edward VII. It was never intended to represent any actual physical crown, although in shape it bears a close resemblance to the small diamond crown of Queen Victoria. Upon the accession of Elizabeth II, she requested the design to be replaced with a representation of the St Edward's Crown (with depressed arches) which she wore at her coronation. Many, though not all, of the derived designs around the world were updated to match. This portrait appeared on the obverse of the coins of Britain's colonies and dependencies (including Jersey), while only Britain and the Dominions (Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa) were allowed to use the uncrowned effigy. Engraver: Cecil Thomas QUEEN ELIZABETH THE SECOND 1971
Reverse	Animal (fish, bird, mammal etc.) Dodo Depicts a dodo bird facing left enclosed by country name above and denomination below. The dodo (Raphus cucullatus) is an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Mauritius, which is east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The dodo's closest relative was the also-extinct and flightless Rodrigues solitaire. The two formed the subfamily Raphinae, a clade of extinct flightless birds that were a part of the family which includes pigeons and doves. The closest living relative of the dodo is the Nicobar pigeon. A white dodo was once thought to have existed on the nearby island of Réunion, but it is now believed that this assumption was merely confusion based on the also-extinct Réunion ibis and paintings of white dodos. Engraver: Christopher Ironside MAURITIUS INDEPENDENCE · 10 RUPEES ·
Edge	Reeded (milled)