Angola is a Southern African nation whose varied terrain encompasses tropical Atlantic beaches, a labyrinthine system of rivers and Sub-Saharan desert that extends across the border into Namibia. The country's colonial history is reflected in its Portuguese-influenced cuisine and its landmarks including Fortaleza de Sao Miguel, a fortress built by the Portuguese in 1576 to defend the capital, Luanda.

Angola has vast mineral and petroleum reserves, and its economy is among the fastest-growing in the world. Angola's economic growth is highly uneven, with most of the nation's wealth concentrated in a disproportionately small sector of the population. Angola has diamonds, oil, gold, copper and rich wildlife, forest and fossil fuels. Since independence, oil and diamonds have been the most important economic resource.

Even if the current currency of Angola is the Kwanza, The escudo was the currency of Angola between 1914 and 1928 and again between 1958 and 1977. It was subdivided into 100 centavos with the macula worth 5 centavos and was equivalent to the Portuguese escudo.

In 1921, bronze 1, 2 and 5 centavo and cupro-nickel 10 and 20 centavo coins were introduced, followed the next year by nickel 50 centavos. In 1914, the Banco Nacional Ultramarino introduced notes in denominations of 10, 50 and 50 centavos.

The note depicted beside is a 500 Escudos banknote issued in 1973. The obverse has the portrait of Luiz de Camoes, the greatest poet of the Portuguese language, to right along with the Pre-1975 Portuguese Angolan Coat of Arms depicting an elephant and a zebra. The reverese features The Black Rocks at Pungo Andongo.

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