Postage stamps and postal history of German East Africa
- Postage stamps and postal history of German East Africa
German East Africa was a German colony in East Africa, including what is now Burundi, Rwanda and Tanganyika (the mainland part of present Tanzania). 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 mandate territories.
The first postage stamps issued for German East Africa came in 1893, as surcharges 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". 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). Most types of German East Africa stamp sell for under US$10, but the high denominations and early overprints up to US$100.
After the colony was occupied by Belgian and British troops, each issued its own provisional stamps. In 1916, the Belgians overprinted stamps of Belgian Congo 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 BEZETTUNG." In 1922 these stamps received surcharges ranging from 5c to 50c.
Initially, in 1916, the British overprinted stamps of the Nyasaland Protectorate with "N.F.", for "Nyasaland Force," then in 1917 switched to the overprint "G.E.A." on stamps of East Africa and Uganda. 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.
Wikimedia Foundation.
2010.
Look at other dictionaries:
Postage stamps and postal history of Great Britain — This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Great Britain. The postal history of Great Britain is notable in at least two respects; first, for the introduction of postage stamps in 1840, and secondly for the establishment of an… … Wikipedia
Postage stamps and postal history of Germany — This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Germany and philatelically related areas. The main modern providers of service were the Reichspost (1871 1945), the Deutsche Post of the GDR (1949 1990), the Deutsche Bundespost (1949… … Wikipedia
Postage stamps and postal history of Tanzania — The story of the postage stamps and postal history of Tanzania begins with German East Africa, which was occupied by British forces during World War I. After the war, the territory was named Tanganyika and issued stamps under that name until… … Wikipedia
Postage stamps and postal history of Tanganyika — The first postage stamps of Tanganyika were stamps of the East Africa and Uganda Protectorates overprinted G.E.A. (for German East Africa), used in 1921 and 1922. These are superficially identical to the last occupation issues of German East… … Wikipedia
Postage stamps and postal history of Kionga — The Kionga Triangle was a tiny territory on the border between German East Africa (present day United Republic of Tanzania) and the Portuguese colony of Mozambique (present day Republic of Mozambique), originally German, but occupied by… … Wikipedia
British East Africa — was an area of East Africa controlled by the British in the late 19th century, which became a protectorate covering roughly the area of present day Kenya. It grew out of British commercial interests in the area in the 1880s and lasted until 1920 … Wikipedia
List of entities that have issued postage stamps (F - L) — ;See also : List of entities that have issued postage stamps (A E): List of entities that have issued postage stamps (M Z)IntroductionThis is a list of entities that have issued postage stamps at some point since stamps were introduced in 1840.… … Wikipedia
German South-West Africa — Deutsch Südwestafrika German colony 1884–1915 … Wikipedia
Postal history of Palestine — The postal history of Palestine emerges out of its geographic location as a crossroads amidst the empires of the ancient Near East, the Levant and the Middle East. Postal services in the region were first established in the Bronze Age, during the … Wikipedia
History of Afghanistan — Timeline … Wikipedia
