French Congo:
Came under French control in 1880, when the capital Brazzaville was founded. Pointe Noire and Loango occupied in 1882 and the region was opened up towards Lake Chad in 1888. On 11 December 1888 was made a colony (incorporating Gabon, Ubangi-Shari and Chad) called Gabon-Congo until 20 April 1891, Congo Francais thereafter. Colony was redivided on 1 July 1904, and the central portion was renamed Moyen Congo. Territories were again combined on 15 January 1910 into French Equatorial Africa (this is not reflected in stamp issues until 1936, see French Equatorial Africa). Area became the Congo Republic (see below) on 28 November 1958.
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As part of anti-slavery activities, French established posts on the Gabon estuary and founded Libreville as a settlement for freed slaves. The explorations of Brazza extended the territory. A governor was appointed in 1886. Gabon was absorbed into French Congo between 11 December 1888 and 1 July 1904 and became part of French Equatorial Africa (see below) after 1910. Gabon became autonomous in 1958 and independent within the French Community in 1960.
Earliest office set up at Libreville in 1862 routed mail via the British PO at Fernando Po.
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Territorial acquisitions by the Italians from 1869 around Assab and Massawa were consolidated by Ethiopian recognition in 1889 and the colony of Eritrea was proclaimed on 1 January 1890. It became part of Italian East Africa in1936-41. Eritrea was occupied by British forces in 1941 and administered by the British until it was federated with Ethiopia on 15 September 1952 (fully integrated ten years later). It still has a strong separatist movement.
Stamps in use in 1936 were equally valid throughout Italian East Africa and can be found used in Ethiopia and Italian Somaliland.
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An independent sovereign state. Foreign embassies made sporadic contact with emperors and lesser warring chiefs in the 19th century. The imprisonment at Magdala of a British representative to King Theodore led to a celebrated rescue expedition in 1867-8. Various designs on Ethiopia by the Egyptians, French and Italians were resisted by diplomacy or force. It was attacked by Italy on 3 October 1935, invested and annexed on 9 May 1936. Transfers of territory from Ethiopia to Eritrea were made around Adowa, but all became part of Italian East Africa until liberated by Allied forces in 1941. The emperor was restored in January 1942. Further transfers of territory were made in 1948 near Gabredarre, but the Ogaden is still a point of conflict with Somalia. Eritrea was incorporated in 1952. A coup d’etat on 12 September 1974 deposed the emperor, and a military regime is in power.
Postal History:
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Alexandria:
PO Opened 1830; closed 31 March 1931. Used stamps of France 1857-76 (numbered oblit. 3704 or 5080).
Port Said:
PO opened June 1867; closed 31 March 1931. Used stamps of France 1867 - 99 (numbered obilt. 5129).
A joint issue of ‘Postage Due’ stamps was used at both offices in 1928-30.
Italian PO at Alexandria:
In 1863-84 used an oblit. numbered 234 in an oblong of dots.
There were also Austrian, Russian and Greek POs in Alexandria.
Suez Canal Company:
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A former province of the Ottoman Empire which became quasi-independent after the Napoleonic invasion (1798-1801) when Mehmet Ali of Kavalla established a dynasty of governors. His successors were granted the title of Khedive in 1867. From the Battle of the Nile (1798), British interest in guarding the route to India, improving imperial communications and suppressing the slave trade ensured continuing interference in Egyptian affairs. British troops occupied the country in 1882 to prevent the threat of the nationalist Jehad (holy war) spreading to the Suez Canal; a British resident and consul-general advised the Khedive. On 18 December 1914 (Turkey, to whom Egypt theoretically owed allegiance, being an enemy) Egypt was declared a British protectorate and the dynasty assumed the title of sultan. In 1922 Egypt became an independent kingdom, but a British presence was maintained until 1954. In 1952 a military coup d’etat forced first the abdication of King Farouk and then of his infant son. A republic was proclaimed on 18 June 1953. The seizure (nationalization) of the Suez Canal in 1956 occasioned a disastrous Anglo-French attempt at reoccupation by force. Egypt federated with Syria on 1 February 1958 as the United Arab Republic; Syria left the Union on 28 September 1961, though Egypt clung to the name for another ten years. A similar attempt at federation with Libya did not make progress. Recent history has been of intermittent war against Israel with consequent de facto changes of boundary between the two followed by reconciliation.
Postal History:
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The area now called Cabinda, north of the River Congo, was a separate administrative territory and had separate stamps from 1894 to 1920, when it was incorporated into Angola.
Like Angola, Cabinda declared its independence on 11 November 1975, but this was followed by a 20 year war . This was led by the Front for the Liberation of the Cabinda Enclave (FLEC) which signed a cease-fire with the government in September 1995. The subsequent peace agreement was confirmed in April 1996.
Postal relations with the outside world. It is presumed that Cabinda continues to use the stamps of Angola, but such usage is quite rare and sought after by collectors.
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Principal Portuguese possession in Africa was founded in 1576, but its boundaries were only gradually fixed after 1886. In 1935 was declared an integral part of Portugal, and after 11 June 1951 was treated as an overseas province. Proclaimed independent on 11 November 1975.
Angola became independent in the midst of a civil war. The Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) took control early in 1976 with Soviet-Cuban assistance, but remained under pressure from the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). After a cease fire in 1988, a peace agreement was signed between the two parties in 1991 and all foreign forces were withdrawn. Elections took place in 1992 which were won by the MPLA. Howver, UNITA refused to accept the result and the civil war was resumed in 1993 when, at one point, UNITA controlled 75% of the country.
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French punitive expedition against Algiers pirates in 1830 led, after some indecision, to a war of conquest in 1840-8. A period of pacification followed until 1871 and then a period of peace in 1872-90 before the conquest of the Saharan oases. The early history and hence also postal history is military: civil administration did not begin until 1848, was not widespread until 1871, and only reached the desert provinces in 1902. Rivalry between military and civil authority extended to postal matters. The European population, c.600 in 1830, exceeded 10,000 in 1835 and 100,000 soon after 1845. Before 1881 there were more than 320,000 Europeans, and provision of state primary schools for the native population had begun. A declaration that Algeria was to become an integral province of France led to open war on 1 November 1954 between Algerians and French troops backed by settlers, which lasted until a cease-fire on 18 March 1962. By referendum Algeria became independent on 3 July 1962.
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The printing plates for the penny black, two pence blue and the VR official were all constructed by Perkins Bacon, the printers of the first postage stamps issued in Great Britain.
The construction of these plates was long winded and complicated, which was intentional so as to make the forgery of the finished article almost impossible.
The first stage involved the engraving of a background for the design. This was produced with a rose engine which laid down a circular pattern of symmetrical design onto a piece of soft steel. This was then partly cleared to leave a square shape and an area in the centre was further cleared in the shape of Queen Victoria’s head ready for engraving.
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