Postage stamps and postal history of German East Africa
Encyclopedia
Postal history
Postal history is the study of postal systems and how they operate and, or, the study of postage stamps and covers and associated material illustrating historical episodes of postal systems...
of German East Africa
German East Africa
German East Africa was a German colony in East Africa, which included what are now :Burundi, :Rwanda and Tanganyika . Its area was , nearly three times the size of Germany today....
.
German East Africa was a German colony in East Africa, including what is now Burundi
Burundi
Burundi , officially the Republic of Burundi , is a landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Its capital is Bujumbura...
, Rwanda
Rwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
and Tanganyika
Tanganyika
Tanganyika , later formally the Republic of Tanganyika, was a sovereign state in East Africa from 1961 to 1964. It was situated between the Indian Ocean and the African Great Lakes of Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika...
(the mainland part of present Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
). It came into existence during the 1880s and ended during World War I, when the area was taken over by the British and Belgians, and later as League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
mandate territories.
German postal agency
A German postal agency was established on 27 February 1885 in Lamu using German stamps for mail. Following the Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty in 1890 Germany created the colony of German East Africa. Initially only German stamps were used.The first postage stamp
Postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
s issued for German East Africa came in 1893, as surcharge
Overprint
An overprint is an additional layer of text or graphics added to the face of a postage stamp or banknote after it has been printed. Post offices most often use overprints for internal administrative purposes such as accounting but they are also employed in public mail...
s in pesa values on regular German stamps, along with the inscription "Deutsch-Ostafrika." In 1900, Germany issued the "Yachts," a common design used for all of Germany's colonies, featuring the Kaiser's yacht Hohenzollern
SMY Hohenzollern
SMY Hohenzollern was the name of several Yachts used by the German Emperors between 1878 and 1918, named after their House of Hohenzollern.- SMY Hohenzollern I :...
. In German East Africa they were denominated in pesas and rupees (64 pesas to a rupee), and inscribed "DEUTSCH-OSTAFRIKA". In 1905 new stamps were printed in "hellers," 100 hellers to a rupee. Germany continued to print stamps even as things went badly in the war, issuing a 1-rupee watermarked Yacht in 1916 (genuine uses of this stamp are extremely rare, worth US$20,000 or more).
Occupation
After the colony was occupied by Belgian and British troops, each issued its own provisional stampProvisional stamp
Linn's World Stamp Almanac defines a provisional stamp as "a postage stamp issued for temporary use to meet postal demands until new or regular stocks of stamps can be obtained."...
s. In 1916, the Belgians overprint
Overprint
An overprint is an additional layer of text or graphics added to the face of a postage stamp or banknote after it has been printed. Post offices most often use overprints for internal administrative purposes such as accounting but they are also employed in public mail...
ed stamps of Belgian Congo
Belgian Congo
The Belgian Congo was the formal title of present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo between King Leopold II's formal relinquishment of his personal control over the state to Belgium on 15 November 1908, and Congolese independence on 30 June 1960.-Congo Free State, 1884–1908:Until the latter...
in several ways, first with "RUANDA" and "URUNDI," although these were never actually used. A second series was overprinted with the dual-language "EST AFRICAIN ALLEMAND / OCCUPATION BELGE / DUITSCH OOST AFRIKA / BELGISCHE BEZETTING." In 1922 these stamps received surcharges ranging from 5c to 50c.
Overprints
In 1916, at the request of Brigadier General Edward Northey, to the Governor of Nyasaland, Nyasaland stamps were overprinted "N.F.". The overprint was intended to be "N.F.F.", for "Nyasaland Field Force", but the telegraph operator omitted one “F.” when sending the request to the Governor. The stamps could only be used by troops of the Nyasaland Rhodesian Field Force. Although they were primarily intended for use in German East Africa, they were also used from field post offices in Nyasaland and Mozambique. They were not issued to any civilian post office nor could they be used by any civilians.The civilian population were able to send mail through the Indian Army postal service field post offices using Indian Expeditionary Forces stamps (Indian stamps overprinted "I.E.F."). When civilian post offices were opened in 1917, stamps of East Africa and Uganda were issued overprinted with "G.E.A.". The same overprint appeared on stamps inscribed "East Africa and Uganda Protectorates," but these were issued after the establishment of Tanganyika, and are considered part of Tanganyika's postal history.
See also
- Postage stamps and postal history of BurundiPostage stamps and postal history of BurundiBurundi has been producing postage stamps for national use since becoming independent on 1 July 1962.The country was formerly a part of the Belgian territory of Ruanda-Urundi and before 1962 used those postage stamps...
- Postage stamps and postal history of the German coloniesPostage stamps and postal history of the German coloniesThis is a survey of postage stamps and postal history of the German colonies and part of the postage stamps and postal history of Germany, as well as those of the individual countries and territories concerned.- Overview :...
- Postage stamps and postal history of RwandaPostage stamps and postal history of RwandaThis is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Rwanda.The Republic of Rwanda is a landlocked country located in the Great Lakes region of eastern-central Africa, bordered by Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania.-First stamps used:The first stamps used in...
- Postage stamps and postal history of TanzaniaPostage stamps and postal history of Tanzaniaright|framed|10-cent flag, 1965.right|thumb|1-shilling stamp of 1965, used at [[Shinyanga]] probably in 1968. Note that the postmark still gives "Tanganyika" as country name.right|thumb|5-shilling stamp of 1980 depicting [[lion]] and cubs, used in 1985.The story of the postage stamps and postal...