Postage stamps and postal history of Tanzania
Encyclopedia
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 and postal history
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 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...
begins with 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....
, which was occupied by British forces during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. After the war, the territory was named 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...
and issued stamps under that name until after a union with Zanzibar
Zanzibar
Zanzibar ,Persian: زنگبار, from suffix bār: "coast" and Zangi: "bruin" ; is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja , and Pemba...
in 1964.
First stamps
The first issue of Tanzania proper was a set of four commemorative stampCommemorative stamp
A commemorative stamp is a postage stamp, often issued on a significant date such as an anniversary, to honor or commemorate a place, event or person. The subject of the commemorative stamp is usually spelled out in print, unlike definitive stamps which normally depict the subject along with the...
s marking the union, issued 7 July 1964. Inscribed "UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANGANYIKA & ZANZIBAR", two values depict a map of the coast from Tanga
Tanga, Tanzania
Tanga is both the name of the most northerly seaport city of Tanzania, and the surrounding Tanga Region. It is the Regional Headquarters of the region.With a population of 243,580 in 2002, Tanga is one of the largest cities in the country...
to Dar-es-Salaam along with Zanzibar and Pemba, while other two show hands holding a torch and spear.
Later issues
The first definitive series was issued 9 December 1965, and consisted of a set of 14 values ranging from 5 cents to 20 shillings, depicting a variety of scenes, symbols, and wildlife.The stamps of Tanzania were also valid in Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
and Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
(until 1976), and so Tanzania did not typically issue its own commemoratives. A definitives series issued 9 December 1967 featured various fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
, and series of 15 stamps from 3 December 1973 depicted butterflies
Butterfly
A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
. Four of these values were 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...
d 17 November 1975.
In 1976 and 1977, Tanzania issued eight commemorative sets that shared design with the stamps of Kenya, and after that it issued its own designs.
Recent stamps
Stamp-issuing policy was relatively restrained in the 1980s, with about 7-8 special issues each year, typically of four stamps each, and a definitive series of mammalMammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
s in 1980, but by the end of the decade the postal administration had begun putting out large numbers of issues aimed solely at stamp collectors, with averages of over 100 types annually. Tanzania is a client of the Inter-Governmental Philatelic Corporation
Inter-Governmental Philatelic Corporation
The Inter-Governmental Philatelic Corporation, or IGPC, is a philatelic agency that represents over 70 different countries in the design, production and marketing of postage stamps. It also assists postal administrations with the running of their postal services...
.
See also
- Postage stamps and postal history of German East AfricaPostage stamps and postal history of German East AfricaThis is a survey of the 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...
- Postage stamps and postal history of Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika
- Postage stamps and postal history of ZanzibarPostage stamps and postal history of ZanzibarThis is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Zanzibar.Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous part of the United Republic of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two...
Sources
- Stanley Gibbons Ltd: various catalogues
- Encyclopaedia of Postal History
- Stuart RossiterStuart RossiterPercival "Stuart" Bryce Rossiter was a renowned British philatelist and postal historian who wrote extensively about British postal history and postage stamps of British colonies in Africa and was actively involved in numerous philatelic institutions...
& John Flower: The Stamp Atlas