The Indian rupee was the dominant currency used along the East African coast during the second half of the 19th century where it had marginalized the American gold dollar and the Maria Theresa thaler.

The German East Africa Company acquired rights to mint coinage in 1890 and issued rupies which were equivalent to the Indian and Zanzibar rupee.

The currency was decimalized on 28 February 1904, with 1 Rupie = 100 Heller, which was then adapted into the Swahili language as the word 'hela' which is still in use today meaning 'money'.

While the smaller valued coins were crudely struck, the gold pieces received fine detail.

Silver coinage was hoarded for its intrinsic value in commercial transactions, and the colonial government was pressured into creating interim banknotes.

[4] The colonial government contracted with the printers of Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Zeitung, a daily newspaper in Dar es Salaam, and on 15 March 1915 they produced the first issue of provisional notes (20 rupien),[7] initially printed on linen and later on paper made from jute.

A warning on the lower reverse of the note states that counterfeiting will result in a minimum sentence of two years at hard labor.