The Krugerrand – South Africa's most famous export

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The Krugerrand is perhaps South Africa's most famous export. South Africa's gold built the only modern industrial complex in Africa, and a nation which to this day accounts for 25% of Africa's economic output. The South African economy has been built on the gold exported from the mines. The symbol of the gold industry is the Krugerrand, a coin made of pure gold and weighing 10oz. The obverse of the coin features the coin's namesake – President Kruger.

Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, known as Paul Kruger or Oom Paul ("Uncle Paul" in Afrikaans) was born on 10 October 1825 in the Cape Colony. Kruger was a lifelong campaigner for Afrikaner interests. His life was shaped by the events which shaped the Afrikaner nation itself — his parents made the Great Trek into the north of South Africa, and Kruger himself dedicated his life to the Boer (Afrikaners), eventually becoming president of the South African Republic, an independent Afrikaner republic (also known as the Transvaal Republic, and not to be confused with the Republic of South Africa). Kruger was the republic's president from 1883 until his exile in 1900, during the Boer War (see below).

The Boer War (1899-1902) saw the end of the independence of the Transvaal and of the Orange Free State (the other independent Afrikaner republic), and President Kruger was forced into exile in The Netherlands. He campaigned tirelessly for European nations to support the Afrikaners, but died on 14 July, 1904 in Clarens, Switzerland. He was buried in The Hague, Netherlands, but was reburied in Pretoria on 6 December, 1904. President Kruger is widely regarded as the father of Afrikaner nationalism.

The first Krugerrand were minted in 1967. The reverse of the coin features a springbok and the description (in Afrikaans and English) - "Fyngoud 10oz Fine Gold".