A beautiful golden sea turtle

Cape Verde

This 1 Escudo coin is from The Republic of Cabo Verde. Anglicised as Cape Verde, it is a small chain of ten islands, off the coast of Senegal, West Africa. They are 600 – 850 KM (320-450 Nautical Miles) off the coast of Africa. The islands are well spread out. Flying between the islands ranges from 15 – 45 mins.

A beautiful country featuring pristine beaches, imposing volcanos, and a rich history. The Portuguese described the islands as “Completely uninhabited” before their arrival in 1456 (or 1415). This claim was made by various colonial powers in other countries and wasn’t always true. In the case of Cape Verde, however, there is no evidence of any human life on the islands before the Portuguese arrived.

The Islands were utilised in the transatlantic slave trade, exile for Portuguese political prisoners, and a place of refuge for Jews and other victims of religious persecution during the Spanish-Portuguese Inquisition. Today the islands are a popular tourist destination.

Obverse

The obverse of the coin features the coat of arms of the country. Adopted in 1992, it features a torch and a triangle within a circle. “The torch and triangle are symbols of freedom and national unity. Also, within the circle is the name of the nation written in Portuguese (República De Cabo Verde). The ten stars on either side of the circle represent the islands Of Cape Verde. At the top of the circle is the plumbob which is a symbol of righteousness. At the bottom, there are three chain links.”

One interesting feature of this coin is that the denomination (the outline of the number “1”) covers the coat of arms of the nation. It is very unusual for a nation to place something over their national symbols like that. Can you think of any other examples? Please share them in the comments below!

Reverse

The reverse features a “Tartaruga”, with that name under the image. Tartaruga is Portuguese for Turtle. Although it may also mean “Tortoise”. So, first of all, let’s clear up, just what IS the difference between a turtle and a tortoise? Both are reptiles, and in fact tortoises are a type of turtle. Or as Nashville Zoo says “tortoises are turtles, but not all turtles are tortoises”.

Broadly, turtles spend more time in the water, and tortoises spend more time on land. Turtles have more flipper type legs for swimming, where tortoises have “elephantine” like hind legs for supporting their weight on land. Tortoises have rounder, domed shells, where turtles tend to have more streamlined shells.

Looking back at the coin, the shell looks fairly streamlined and the back legs are definitely flipper like – it’s a turtle! Given the island nature of the issuing country, and what we now know about tartaruga, that makes sense. Cape Verde has the third-largest population of nesting loggerhead turtles in the world. These gentle giants can weigh over 100 kilos (250 pounds) and be up to a metre (3 feet) long.

Above: A Loggerhead turtle swimming in the clear water around Cape Verde. Photo from CapeVerdeIslands.org.

Turtles or Tortoises?

That leaves us with one more question on turtles and tortoises – who is more popular on coins?

Searching Numista for “Tartaruga” finds 4 coins, of which two are circulating.

Searching for Turtle finds 256 coins, of which 46 are circulating.

Searching for Tortoise finds 79 coins, of which 53 are circulating.

Those results are interesting, and I notice that a number of those tortoise coins are from ancient Greek islands, where I would expect most of those representations should actually be sea turtles rather than tortoise. In any case, I’m now clearer on the difference between turtles and tortoises, and I hope you are too!