Somali Shilling
OriginSomalia
First Minted1962
MaterialVarious
TypeCurrency
About Somali Shilling
The official currency of Somalia. Introduced after independence in 1960. The shilling collapsed during the Somali Civil War in 1991. Remarkably, old shilling banknotes continued to circulate for over a decade without any central bank backing. Warlords and merchants determined exchange rates through market forces. Somalias experience demonstrates that money can function based purely on social convention without government support.
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