Lesson learned today, Nyassa is not the same as Nyasaland Protectorate. Nyassa was a Portugese colony in Mozambique. Nyasaland Protectorate was British controlled -- the current Malawi. And of course it is much more complicated than that.
All I wanted was a place to put some interesting giraffe and camel stamps -- from a mysterious place called Nyassa. I was inspired somewhat by seeing them on Antonius Ra's pages. I went to the Palo web site and purchased pages that seemed to be appropriate, Nyasaland Protectorate. Wrong. Wrong country.
I suppose some prior research would have been in order. Regardless, I have decided to collect both Nyassa and Nyasaland Protectorate. And since I collect Nyasaland Protectorate, I will, of course, have to collect British Central Africa, which it was before 1907.
An interesting area, and one in which Dr. Livingstone played a large role. And I won't even bring up Charles Gordon and the Sudan -- there are even better camel stamps there.
Here is a list of African independencies with dates and previous rulers, hopefully not to long.
Chronological List of African Independence
Country Independence Date Prior ruling country
Liberia, Republic of 26 July 1847 --
South Africa, Republic of 31 May 1910 Britain
Egypt, Arab Republic of 28 February 1922 Britain
Ethiopia 1, People's Democratic Republic of 5 May 1941 Italy
Libya (Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya)24 December 1951 Britain
Sudan, Democratic Republic of 1 January 1956 Britain/Egypt
Morocco 2, Kingdom of 2 March 1956 France
Tunisia, Republic of 20 March 1956 France
Ghana, Republic of 6 March 1957 Britain
Guinea, Republic of 2 October 1958 France
Cameroon 3, Republic of 1 January 1960 France
Senegal, Republic of 4 April 1960 France
Togo, Republic of 27 April 1960 France
Mali, Republic of 22 September 1960 France
Madagascar, Democratic Republic of 26 June 1960 France
Congo (Kinshasa), Democratic Republic of the 30 June 1960 Belgium
Somalia, Democratic Republic of 1 July 1960 Britain
Benin, Republic of 1 August 1960 France
Niger, Republic of 3 August 1960 France
Burkina Faso, Popular Democratic Republic of 5 August 1960 France
Côte d'Ivoire, Republic of (Ivory Coast) 7 August 1960 France
Chad, Republic of 11 August 1960 France
Central African Republic 13 August 1960 France
Congo (Brazzaville), Republic of the 15 August 1960 France
Gabon, Republic of 17 August 1960 France
Nigeria 4, Federal Republic of 1 October 1960 Britain
Mauritania, Islamic Republic of 28 November 1960 France
Sierra Leone, Republic of 27 April 1961 Britain
Tanzania, United Republic of 9 December 1961 Britain
Burundi, Republic of 1 July 1962 Belgium
Rwanda, Republic of 1 July 1962 Belgium
Algeria, Democratic and Popular Republic of 3 July 1962 France
Uganda, Republic of 9 October 1962 Britain
Kenya, Republic of 12 December 1963 Britain
Malawi, Republic of 6 July 1964 Britain
Zambia, Republic of 24 October 1964 Britain
Gambia, Republic of The 18 February 1965 Britain
Botswana, Republic of 30 September 1966 Britain
Lesotho, Kingdom of 4 October 1966 Britain
Mauritius, State of 12 March 1968 Britain
Swaziland, Kingdom of 6 September 1968 Britain
Equatorial Guinea, Republic of 12 October 1968 Spain
Guinea-Bissau5, Republic of 24 September 1973(alt. 10 September 1974) Portugal
Mozambique, Republic of 25 June 1975 Portugal
Cape Verde, Republic of 5 July 1975 Portugal
Comoros, Federal Islamic Republic of the 6 July 1975 France
São Tomé and Principe, Democratic Republic of 12 July 1975 Portugal
Angola, People's Republic of 11 November 1975 Portugal
Western Sahara 6 28 February 1976 Spain
Seychelles, Republic of 29 June 1976 Britain
Djibouti, Republic of 27 June 1977 France
Zimbabwe, Republic of 18 April 1980 Britain
Namibia, Republic of 21 March 1990 South Africa
Eritrea, State of 24 May 1993 Ethiopia
Notes:
1. Ethiopia is usually considered to have never been colonized, but following the invasion by Italy in 1935-36 Italian settlers arrived. Emperor Haile Selassie was deposed and went into exile in the UK. He regained his throne on 5 May 1941 when he re-entered Addis Ababa with his troops. Italian resistance was not completely overcome until 27th November 1941.
2. Also for Morocco:
Morocco (Spanish Northern Zone,Marruecos) 7 April 1956 Spain
Morocco (International Zone, Tangiers) 29 October 1956 --
Morocco (Spanish Southern Zone,Marruecos) 27 April 1958 Spain
Morocco (Ifni) 30 June 1969 Spain
3. Also for Cameroon
Cameroon (British Cameroon South) 1 October 1961 Britain
4. Also for Nigeria
Nigeria (British Cameroon North) 1 June 1961 Britain
5. Guinea-Bissau Unilateral Declaration of Independence on 24 September 1973, now considered as Independence Day, however independence was only recognized by Portugal on 10 September 1974 as a result of the Algiers Accord of 26 August 1974.
6. Western Sahara was immediately seized by Morocco, a move contested by Polisario (Popular Front for the Liberation of the Saguia el Hamra and Rio del Oro).
Colonial Africa is one of my specialties. The list provided touched off a cross listing of former names and component colonies as noted below.
Algeria, Democratic and Popular Republic of 3 July 1962 France
Angola, People's Republic of 11 November 1975 Portugal
Benin, Republic of 1 August 1960 France Dahomey, Fr. West Africa
Botswana, Republic of 30 September 1966 Britain Bechuanaland
Burkina Faso, Popular Democratic Rep. of 5 August 1960 France Upper Volta, Fr. West Africa
Burundi, Republic of 1 July 1962 Belgium Ruanda-Urundi, German East Africa
Cameroon 3, Republic of 1 January 1960 France Cameroons, Fr. West Africa, Br. Cameroons So., Cameroons(Ger)
Cape Verde, Republic of 5 July 1975 Portugal
Central African Republic 13 August 1960 France Ubangi-Shari, Fr. Equatorial Africa
Chad, Republic of 11 August 1960 France Fr. West Africa
Comoros, Federal Islamic Republic of the 6 July 1975 France Moheli, Grand Comoro, Moroni
Mayotte, Anjouan
Congo (Brazzaville), Republic of the 15 August 1960 France French Congo, Fr. West Africa
Congo (Kinshasa), Democratic Republic of the 30 June 1960 Belgium Zaire, Belgian Congo
Côte d'Ivoire, Republic of (Ivory Coast) 7 August 1960 France Fr. West Africa
Djibouti, Republic of 27 June 1977 France Somali Coast
Egypt, Arab Republic of 28 February 1922 Britain
Equatorial Guinea, Republic of 12 October 1968 Spain Spanish Guinea, Rio Muni
Eritrea, State of 24 May 1993 Ethiopia
Ethiopia 1, People's Democratic Republic of 5 May 1941 Italy
Gabon, Republic of 17 August 1960 France Fr. Equatorial Africa
Gambia, Republic of The 18 February 1965 Britain
Ghana, Republic of 6 March 1957 Britain Gold Coast
Guinea, Republic of 2 October 1958 France French Guinea, Fr. West Africa
Guinea-Bissau5, Republic of 24 September 1973(alt. 10 September 1974) Portugal Portugeuse Guinea
Kenya, Republic of 12 December 1963 Britain Kenya Uganda & Tanganiyka
Lesotho, Kingdom of 4 October 1966 Britain Basotuland
Liberia, Republic of 26 July 1847 --
Libya (Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya)24 December 1951 Britain Fezzan, Ghadames
Madagascar, Democratic Republic of 26 June 1960 France Ste. Marie Madagascar, Nossi Be, Br. Consular Services
Malawi, Republic of 6 July 1964 Britain Northern Rhodesia Nyasaland, Br. Central Africa
Mali, Republic of 22 September 1960 France French Sudan, Fr. West Africa
Mauritania, Islamic Republic of 28 November 1960 France Fr. West Africa
Mauritius, State of 12 March 1968 Britain
Morocco 2, Kingdom of 2 March 1956 France Spanish Morocco, French Morocco
Br.Offices Morocco, German Offices Morocco
Mozambique, Republic of 25 June 1975 Portugal Tete,Kionga, Zambezia
Quelimaine,Nyassa, Inhambane
Mozambique Company
Namibia, Republic of 21 March 1990 South Africa So. West Africa, German W. Africa
Niger, Republic of 3 August 1960 France Fr. West Africa
Nigeria 4, Federal Republic of 1 October 1960 Britain Niger Coast Prot., So. Nigeria No. Nigeria, Oil Rivers,Lagos
Rwanda, Republic of 1 July 1962 Belgium Ruanda German East Africa
São Tomé and Principe, Democratic Republic of 12 July 1975 Portugal
Senegal, Republic of 4 April 1960 France Fr. West Africa
Seychelles, Republic of 29 June 1976 Britain
Sierra Leone, Republic of 27 April 1961 Britain
Somalia, Democratic Republic of 1 July 1960 Britain Italian Somaliland Somaliland Prot.
South Africa, Republic of 31 May 1910 Britain Orange Free State, Transvaal Stellaland, Cape of Good Hope Natal, Griquiland West,
Zululand
Sudan, Democratic Republic of 1 January 1956 Britain/Egypt
Swaziland, Kingdom of 6 September 1968 Britain
Tanzania, United Republic of 9 December 1961 Britain German East Africa, Kenya Uganda & Tanganiyka
Togo, Republic of 27 April 1960 France Fr. West Africa, Togo(Ger)
Tunisia, Republic of 20 March 1956 France
Uganda, Republic of 9 October 1962 Britain East Africa & Uganda, Br. East Africa, Kenya Uganda & Tanganiyka
Western Sahara 6 28 February 1976 Spain Spanish Sahara
Zambia, Republic of 24 October 1964 Britain Southern Rhodesia
Zimbabwe, Republic of 18 April 1980 Britain Rhodesia & Nyasaland, Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia
Wow, that's a lot of history to try and get into one list!
Some of the details are a bit confused though.
For example in the last few entries:
"Tanzania, United Republic of 9 December 1961 Britain German East Africa, Kenya Uganda & Tanganiyka
"
Tanganyika became independent from Britain in 1961.
Zanzibar ceased being a British protectorate in 1963.
The Sultan of Zanzibar was overthrown in 1964 and the Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba was declared the same year.
In 1964 Tanganyika and Zanzibar joined to form the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar.
Later in 1964 this was renamed Tanzania.
"Western Sahara 6 28 February 1976 Spain Spanish Sahara
"
Western Sahara never became independent. In 1976 Spain ceded the northern part to Morocco by Spain and the southern part to Mauritania. Mauritania then gave up its claim and Morocco occupied the southern part also.
"Zambia, Republic of 24 October 1964 Britain Southern Rhodesia
"
Zambia was the former Northern Rhodesia.
"Zimbabwe, Republic of 18 April 1980 Britain Rhodesia & Nyasaland, Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia
"
Southern Rhodesia renamed itself Rhodesia in 1964.
It then declared itself independent from Britain in 1965 and became a republic in 1970.
However, officially Britain still considered this to be the colony of Southern Rhodesia.
NIGELC, you got me on most of those. Some updates did not take on my downloaded WORD file edit and re-paste.
As an Africa specialist I also include Reunion, St. Helena, Ascension, & Tristan da Cunha. I also include Portuguese Atlantic Islands- Azores and associated units (before reabsorption by Portugal): Horta, Ponta Delgado, Madeira, Angra, Funchal.
Missed in earlier list was
Elobey, Annabon & Corisco; and Fernando Po; parts of Spanish Guinea; now Equitorial Guinea.
La Aguera folded into Rio De Oro as part of Spanish Sahara.
Of particular interest/note to me are the listed Uganda Missionary issues; as well as the illusory Norwegian Missionary stamps of Madagascar. I always thought the latter were fantasies until I saw a whole pane of them at the last International Javits stamp show.
As there appears to be some very savvy collectors of Africa here. Perhaps someone can help with the mystery (minor) of the 1901 series of Nyassa (Mozambique) stamps depicting camels -- an animal not indigenous to this part of Africa. In fact, the background of the stamp is much more in accord with Egypt or Sudan -- appearing to be sandy wastes dotted with a few palms.
I did a little searching, but the results don't seem to be conclusive other then that attempts were made to import camels to the area from time to time. But the dates listed don't jibe with the 1901 date of the stamps:
"David Livingstone, the missionary-explorer, was the first to fail to introduce camels to Portuguese East Africa when he sailed into what would now be considered territorial waters at the mouth of the Ruvuma River on 22 March, 1866. Tide and wind were against him however, and after two days he sailed back north and landed six camels at Mikindani in what is now Tanzania (Waller, 1874; Wilson, 2012b). The so far undisputed first camels in Mozambique were thus the 34 brought by Colonel Flint from Karachi that arrived at Beira towards the end of April, 1903 (Flint, 1903). This group was loaded onto a train immediately on arrival at Beira and transported directly to Salisbury (Harare) where they arrived on 9 May, 1903. None of the group was lost or died on the long journey from South Asia to Southern Africa. The presence of camels at Tete in northern Portuguese East Africa (located at 16° 17' S, 33° 58' E) on the banks of the Zambezi in 1904 has been established by a photograph taken there at the time (Figure 1) but nothing further is known about these animals." From Wikipedia
I never thought to question the biologic integrity of the subjects of this issue. But, I know the Nyassa region was a sparsely populated area under the Nyassa company development. The stamps themselves were unlikely needed but printed as money makers by the company. There is info to suggest that most of the issue was favor cancelled for the European philatelic trade.
My best guess is that the Nyassa company was more interested in the attractiveness of this issue than the biological integrity of the animals selected.
To add just a couple of tidbits to what Rjan wrote: The camel and giraffe stamps were designed by Sir Robert Edgcumbe (1851-1929), a lawyer by trade. There were seven printings between 1901 and 1922 by Waterlows & Sons. These stamps were HUGELY popular. As stated before, very few of these stamps actually made it to Nyassa post offices.
King Carlos (Portugal) portrait in the upper left hand corner of stamp was replaced by the portrait of his son Manuel on later stamps. Carlos was assassinated in 1908.
Not wishing to appear picky, but after a quick scan of the list, I noticed that South Africa was incorrectly labelled as having become a Republic on the 31st May 1910.
Actually the Union Of South Africa was formed then. It was initially a Dominion of the British Empire, later a sovereign nation with a Governor General representing the British Crown.
The Republic Of South Africa only came into being on the 31st May 1961 with a new constitution and South Africa leaving the British Commonwealth.
Clive
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The truth is within and only you can reveal it 02 Sep 2017 11:58:25pm
re: Into Africa ... cluelessly
Chris as with most countries I use Scott Specialty pages and Steiner for pages where Scott's can not be found.. Colonial African colonies are one of the most interesting areas to collect. Most all of the first postal era African countries were colonies of Great Britain, France, Portugal, Italy, Spain and Belgium. After liberation the quality of stamps took a big down turn and I have a hard time getting excited about any of them, which I'd say is probably the norm amongst collectors. Used Scott Specialty pages for the colonies are not terribly hard to come buy, however there are so many of them that you will probably find it hard to get them all. The hands down best option for pages of Africa would be Steiner.
I use Scott specialty pages as a base. I purchased these all second hand, some simply as pages for which I purchased new binders. Variations require liberal addition of blank pages. I recently separated my many colonial covers into separate volumes with clear pages to present front & back. I have a separate volume for the Cape of Good Hope to present my accumulation of triangles by die type & watermarks, as well as covers.
"... the mystery (minor) of the 1901 series of Nyassa (Mozambique) stamps depicting camels -- an animal not indigenous to this part of Africa ..."
People know things.
I once visited a museum with a Hall of Fakes & Forgeries. Every object was 'found' at an archeological site but, clearly, could not have come from that place or that time.
One example was a three-legged bowl from (perhaps) Turkey, when it was well known that three-legged bowls were only produced in (perhaps) Persia.
Wow! What a shallow understanding of humanity!
No Ottoman ceramicist could have seen a Persian bowl passing thru on a caravan from Asia to Europe ... and decided to try one himself? (Hint: the Ottomans were great forgers, and copied everything that passed by.)
No Ottoman ceramicist could have lost a bowl leg before he could attach all four, and decided to see if s/he could get by with three?
Kids know about dinosaurs, even though few have seen one, and dinosaurs show up on stamps, even though few countries still farm them.
And countries without a space program ... you get the idea.
Any trader working the east coast of Africa over the centuries could have tried bringing a breeding pair of camels along to try and make a buck ... any Egypt-besotted Englishman newly sent south could have decided to try his hand at raising camels ... the lack of documentation means nothing ... or is this stamp the documentation?
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey (who forgot to ask if the stamp designer was some clueless twit back in London who did not know one end of Africa from another)
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"I collect stamps today precisely the way I collected stamps when I was ten years old."
"After liberation the quality of stamps took a big down turn and I have a hard time getting excited about any of them, which I'd say is probably the norm amongst collectors."
It certainly was back in 1961, which was for me coming to the end of my first stamp collecting phase. Away (from several African countries) went the elegant, formal, single- or double-toned stamps of the British colonies; in came garish, unframed designs with malproportioned lettering and new names to be learned. I think this is what Antonius Ra was getting at in the quote above, and certainly for a 12-year-old at the time it was cause for disapproval and, shortly and among other things, abandoning the hobby for a couple of decades.
But, as is also pointed out above, were not many of those colonial designs made by Europeans for European collectors, quite possibly never used in the host country except by European rulers and their settlers? Did not their formal exoticism (which I found interesting and instructive, perhaps misleadingly so) mask systems of government about which a 12-year-old would not know, but which later would cause him to undergo a major rethink about the benefits to Africa of European 'civilisation'?
I have a page or two of attractive stamps of Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika. I wonder if you feel the same conflicted sense as I do, when considering at least the first of those, with its giraffes, lions and Royal lodges, now I know how the British treated Kenyans whose struggle for independence eventually saw the oppressors off (and produced far less attractive stamps)? Do those of you who have, say, the 1894 pictorial stamps of 'independent' Congo reflect in the same way?
Stamps are not only pretty designs. The pretty designs were made for a purpose, one of which was to attract European stamp collectors. Another was to conceal colonial reality.
Great post Guthrum.
For me, stamp collecting has moved way, WAY beyond pretty designs, although I have a hard time resisting fine engraving work, regardless of the context.
But, anymore, context is EVERYTHING!
You put a dimension on context which is very interesting. That is, to move beyond the purpose of the design to depict a (real or imagined) aspect of national culture. And, in addition, consider its political purpose.
Not to mention that, in today's world, the prospect of spearing an elephant is...disgusting. Yet, even now, it happens 100 times a day. The population of African elephants declined 30% between 2007 and 2016.
"as well as the illusory Norwegian Missionary stamps of Madagascar. I always thought the latter were fantasies until I saw a whole pane of them at the last International Javits stamp show."
I am a single specimen or stamp from everywhere collector. Not familiar with these..
Good post Guthrum. I afford myself the luxury of occasional historical-political commentary on my stamp pages. In this case a scanned image of a Belgium King Leopold II statue being defaced, as it should be. Sometimes monsters are rewarded with their facsimiles on stamps. The stamps are still interesting, and I enjoy collecting them, but it's even more interesting to know the back story.
Cheers.
Eric/Wine
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