Tag: Senegal stamp

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Senegal 1913, the four Communes Evolve

When the colonies in Africa moved inland they took on the responsibility for those natives that they conquered. What did they hope for them? The time of slavery was in the past and there was no effort to remove them. Something had to evolve. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The French in this period did a nice job with these stamps being little windows into the far off places. Imagine the young French collector, seeing his future of travel and adventure in the service of his country. Better than the reality awaiting him in the trenches.

Todays stamp is issue A28, a 1 Centime stamp issued by French Occidental Africa for use in Senegal in 1913. This was a 44 stamp issue in various denominations. The issue of stamps would last a full 20 years. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.

The four major trading posts in Senegal, Dakar, Saint Louis, Goree’, and Rufisque began to be known as the four Communes. Over time the native citizens of them were to be trained in the French language, religion and culture so that they could evolve into full citizens of France. Starting in 1914 those that were fully evolved would be allowed to elect representatives to the French National Assembly, it was a time of French Republic. France was the only European power to grant elected representation in the Home Countries’ Parliament.

Blaise Diagne was born to a Lebu  father and a Manjack mother. He was then adopted by a mixed race family. He was Baptized Catholic in the mostly Muslim country. He was given the opportunity to study in France and then accepted a job in the French Customs service. He was elected to represent the four communes in the French National Assembly and advocated for more help regarding an outbreak of the Bubonic Plague in Dakar. He also impressed France by working very hard to recruit French West Africans to serve in the trenches of France during World War One.

Blaise Diagne in 1921 when he was Mayor of the Commune of Dakar

Though Diagne later served as Mayor of Dakar, by his later career times were passing him by. More modern Africans rejected the ideal of becoming French and rather looked to throwing off the yoke of France and creating a new nation. When he died he was denied burial in Dakar at the black cemetery because it affiliated with Islam and rejected him based on Diagne being a Freemason.

Diagne’s children made a new home in France. His son became the first black soccer/football star in France and had a French white wife. His grandson has served several terms as mayor of his home town in France. He also has a white French wife and has not traveled to Senegal post independence in 1960. Proving it was possible to evolve into a full Frenchman. Whether that was the ideal….

Senegal has evolved a little as well. Dakar has grown so large that the old communes of Goree’ and Rufisque are now just suburbs. Diagne is also remembered, it is his name on the international airport.

Well my drink is empty and perhaps I should myself evolve and put the bottle away. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

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French Occidental Africa 1906, General Faidherbe can’t give Maurel & Prom what they want

If a coastal trading post is successful as was Saint Louis in modern day Senegal, there will be a push from the trading houses to push inland. This potentially cuts out the middleman. General Faidherbe imagined a French African Empire stretching from the west coast of Africa to the Red Sea in the east. Therefore he did his best for the French trading house Maurel & Prom. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Todays stamp is from one of the periods where wildly spread out colonies were jointly administered. Hence a French General whose activities were in Senegal on a stamp meant for the Ivory Coast. Around the time of independence there was a pan African hope that many of the nations could come together in large groupings as the French had done. It had not worked for France and the Africans themselves could not pull it off.

Todays stamp is issue A2, a 2 Centimes stamp issued for the French colony of Ivory Coast when it was part of French Occidental Africa in 1906. It was part of a 15 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $2 whether used or unused. There are versions of this stamp issue where the Cote de Ivorie printing is doubled or omitted due to printing mistakes. This pushes the value up to $400.

The Saint Louis trading post in Senegal was quite successful. We covered a Senegal stamp telling the story of the bridge to Saint Louis herehttps://the-philatelist.com/2018/12/20/senegal-1935-a-bridge-connecting-a-trading-post-becomes-a-symbol-of-a-city/  . By this period, the slave trade was over but there was still lucrative trading in cattle and peanuts raised by Africans and then sold in Saint Louis to the trading house Maurel & Prom. The trading was going on with both the Serer people of the African Empire of Sine and with nomadic Arabs from further north.

The trading house had the idea to push French inland. General Fadeherbe lead the expedition of about 300 French. He had taken a 15 year old native girl named Sidibe who bore him a son and taught General Fadeherbe the local dialects. Moving inland brought conflict with the Empire of Sine. The Sine Army was defeated at the Battle of Logandeme in a few minutes. General Fadeherbe burned nearby villages as a warning and took over major areas. The King of Sine pleaded and threatened in an attempt to not lose the contested area. To loose the area would cut off access to British arms markets in Gambia, their only source of weapons. The King threatened to kill all white people in Senegal and all cattle headed to market in Saint Louis. The French kept the land.

The Sine Empire did manage to make the French pay a heavy price. No they did not kill all the white people but they destroyed many of the peanut fields, killed much cattle, and harassed French outposts. This of course ate enough of the profits that the expedition failed in it’s profit motive. France eventually began paying tribute to the Sine King in order to be left alone. This arrangement was in affect till 1969 when independent Senegal pulled recognition of the title.

The French defeat in the Franco-Prussian war saw many French Generals killed, captured or dismissed. A call went out for colonial officers to return to France. He took with him his son but left behind Sidibe. Once home the 40 year old General was promoted and married his 18 year old niece by his deceased older brother. She helped raise his son and bore him 4 more children. The General did not have as much luck with Prussia as with Sine and his army was destroyed at the Battle of St. Quentin. He retired from the Army and became a politician and author. Maurel & Prom still exist but now mainly do oil exploration.

Well my drink is empty and I have nobody to toast, the trading house was greedy, the General’s expedition foolhardy, and the Sine wanted to kill all the white people, of which I am one. Perhaps just this once I will toast myself for finishing another article. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Senegal 1935, A bridge connecting a trading post becomes a symbol of a city

I have covered many colonial stamps, and the record of colonialism is at best mixed. Yet it is hard to argue with making connections. Here we have a bridge that has been doing that for over 100 years. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Today is a bridge in Senegal. One can understand that the level of engineering involved was beyond anything that could have been achieved locally by the natives in 1898. As such, it is one of those rare instances of doing something worth doing and not merely exploitive. Today this bridge still stands and understandably is a symbol of Saint Louis, Senegal. No wonder such an achievement is honored with a stamp. I was hoping to find an indepent Senegal stamp with the bridge, perhaps on the bridges 100th anniversary, but no the postal authorites now seem more into the Paris Dakar Rally.

The stamp today is issue A29, a one cent stamp issued by the French colony of Senegal in 1935. The stamp was part of a 30 stamp issue in various denominations and were issued for many years. If you see a version without the RF that means it was issued by the Vichy French puppet state during World War II and are fake as they were not sold for postage in Senegal. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether mint or used.

The city of Saint Louis is at the mouth of the Senegal River on the island of Nadr. Upon arrival of French traders, the island was unoccupied. The French built  first a fortress called Saint Louis and the city grew up around it. It became the capital of the colony when France annexed the mainland. At first there was a ferry system to the island but the colony saw the need for a proper bridge and the colony took out a loan to get the bridge built. Faideherbe Bridge was named after French General and colonial administrator Louis Faideherbe. There is an urban legend that the bridge was designed by Gustave Eifel and used steel sections intended for a bridge in Romania he lost the contract for. The truth is that Eifel’s firm bid on the project but did not win the contract. The bridge has a moveable section to let large ships pass or to deny access to the island.

Saint Louis developed a fairly unique culture as a multi race trading post that was dominated by Creole traders known as Metis. They had an unusually high proportion of females among their ranks. Much of the trading however was dealing in slavery, that went on for several decades after the French had officially abolished it.

Over time the fortunes of Saint Louis declined. The port facilities were inadequate for the then new steamships, and new traders from Bordeaux in France st up rival trade routes out of Dakar, another city further south that also started as an offshore island trade post. In 1902, the capital of French West Africa moved from Saint Louis to Dakar, although the capital of Senegal itself stayed in Saint Louis for a few more years until independence in 1960.

The decline continued post independence. By 2010 the Faidherbe bridge required urgent repairs. The French and Creoles are long gone from Saint Louis, but nevertheless it was up to France to see that the city did not lose the connection to the mainland. France financed the repairs as it had the original construction. How independent is Senegal really if it can not do anything for itself.

Well my drink is empty and so I will open the conversation in the below comment section. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.