Month: March 2018

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India honours George V on his Silver Anniversary by displaying Holy Places

Though Queen Elizabeth II was just getting going at her silver jubilee, for most Royals it is near the end of his rule. That was the case with George V. Rather than just a stuffy political portrait of an old man, why not include the beauty of the empire, even where the King is not responsible. 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.

I have a real fondness for this stamp. One of the duties of George V was to lead the Anglican church. Another is to be the head of the British Empire. The obvious stamp to do would be a portrait perhaps with a map showing the vast realm. Instead there is the confidence to show views of India that really don’t have much to do with the British. In showing these type of places it implies India is a special place that George V had the honour to serve. A much more nuanced  and flattering way to celebrate the silver jubilee.

The stamp today is issue A73, a one and a quarter anna stamp issued by the Crown Colony of India in 1935. The stamp shows the Jain Temple in Calcutta. The 7 stamp issue showed holy places of various religions practiced in India, none of them Anglican. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 55 cents used. It is interesting to me that now days Indian stamps in the early years after independence seem to be worth more than those of the late days of the colony. The hobby was always big in England but I think it reflects the taking up of the hobby by native Indians rather than expatriate British. As there are vastly more Indians than British, it bodes well for the future of stamp collecting.

Jainism is a religion practiced by about 5 million people worldwide. The bulk of these people are Indian. They believe in non violence, vegetarianism, chastity, meditation and being anti-materialistic. The temple in Calcutta was built by Badridas Mukeem. He was a jeweler.

The temple is really a complex of temples built on a filled in lake.  It features elaborate decorations and a lamp that has been continuously lit since the temple’s completion in 1867. It is today a major tourist attraction in Calcutta. Calcutta in 2001 reverted to the name Kolkata. Kolkata was always how it was pronounced in Bengali, with Calcutta being the Anglicized version. A village named Kolkata in the area predated the arrival of the British. I believe it is then still okay to say Calcutta when speaking English, but over time we will get more used to the new pronunciation.

George V died after a long illness in 1936. He was a very traditional presence that gave him a bond with the average  citizen. His long rule saw the suffering and the loss of wealth of World War I and the following depression. He also saw the rise of socialism and republicanism. Unlike many of his contemporary European royals, his rule survived. He was also a noted stamp collector and his granddaughter Queen Elizabeth II has kept and built on his collection.

Well my dink is empty and so I will open the conversation in the below comment section. If we have any Indian readers, could you let us know whether it is still correct to call the city Calcutta when speaking English. For that matter does Bombay survive when speaking English in India? Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

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Celebrating in Russia Marx’s German Birthplace

Marx is the father of communism. Russia in 1932 was working to turn communism into a working system for Russians. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your fist sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Todays stamp displays Trier, Karl Marx’s birthplace in Germany. It is a beautiful ancient city with ruins that go back to Roman times and a large Lutheran Cathedral. It is perhaps for the best that the printing on this stamp is so bad. If Trier’s beauty and prosperity had been better displayed the point of the stamp might have been obscured. Instead of hope for what Marx’s ideas might do for the average Russian, they may wonder what Trier is doing right that the Soviet city of Stalino is doing wrong.

The stamp today is issue A141, a three Kopek stamp issued by the Soviet Union in March 1933. It was part of a 3 stamp issue marking the 50th anniversary of the death of Karl Marx. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.80 used. A mint copy of the 35 Kopek stamp in the issue is worth $67.50 mint.

Marx was born into a well off Jewish family. They were not religious although they converted officially to Lutheranism to avoid anti Semitic rules. His father was a lawyer and owned an interest in several vineyards. His mother was from a rich Dutch Jewish family that founded Philips Electronics. Marx was excused from Prussian military service by claiming a weak chest. He spent a great period of time in higher education pursuing the study of law and philosophy. He married a baroness.

The Soviet Union had been a Communist nation for 15 years. There had been a big push to industrialize and with that a large relocation to the cities. The forced collectivization of the farm land had not gone well and left the cities short of food. Both rural and urban areas were full of strife and shortages. The Soviet leader Stalin was ruthless in trying to bring order. He was also demanding much authority from the Communist Party to stamp out doctrinaire Marxists who might have other ideas as to what needed to be done.

Given this, it seems to be personally revering Marx as a man with a well off non Russian background is strange. Communism is supposed to be about building up the working man and through him building a nation. Thus his ideas should be promoted with special reference to what they can achieve for the average citizen.

That is not what this stamp does. It celebrates the man Karl Marx, who was without a nation or a church. He survived on the patronage of rich friends and family. His ideas were just untried theories. Nothing that will get the Soviet Union through the crisis it faced. There are a lot of stamps like this from Communist countries. Marx thought each country should have a separate communist party. He would probably also agree that their heroes should be local.

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

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Belgium honors a stamp engraver

As philatelists, we love the artistry of our stamps. Belgium loved the artistry on it’s early issues enough to honor the engraver. 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.

This is the second time we have featured a stamp honoring the art of stamp engraving. See https://the-philatelist.com/2017/11/03/paying-extra-to-celebrate-the-art-of-stamp-designing/. Both stamps were issued in relation to a stamp show. While Argentina shows off bold colors and a vigorous young but generic artist. Belgium takes a different tact. A simple grey stamp displaying Mr. De Bast as a seasoned professional. Visually I will go with the Argentina stamp but I rather like how each stamp displays something of each nation’s character.

The stamp today is issue A513, a 12 Franc stamp issued by the Kingdom of Belgium on April 22nd, 1985. It was a single stamp issue relating to a stamp show. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Jean De Bast had a long fruitful career in the postal office from 1907 through his first engraving in 1921 through to his last one in 1967. By then he was in his eighties. He only worked on Belgian stamps also this includes stamps for airmail. the railroad, the revenue department and a single issue for the Belgian Congo. A gallery of Mr. De Bast work is here. https://web.archive.org/web/20131218082333/https://picasaweb.google.com/Dan.Voitu/JeanDeBastTimbres

The ruling family of Belgium had seen what a great job De Bast was doing depicting them on the stamp issues. By the mid twenties they had seen to it that the postal authority would no longer seek out foreign engravers. It was a time when the Royals were depicted in a deeply reverential fashion. De Bast style fit that well but would not work so well on a modern stamp offering, except perhaps for Vatican City. There were also a far greater number of long ago historical figures on Belgian stamps, and they benefited from Mr. De Bast’s treatment.

I find myself torn on the style of stamp on the De Bast issue of 1985. Since his last stamp 18 years before, the technology and color palate possible had widened greatly. It might have been interesting to use all the advancements in the fullest while still using the style of Mr. De Bast. That could have been great or just not have worked at all.

Well my drink is empty, so I will pour another to toast Mr. De Bast and all the other stamp engravers we don’t know. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Hong Kong, getting out at the end of the lease,so people can get a mortgage

In the early eighties, people in Hong Kong began to worry about the end of the British lease of the new territories. How well this was handled was a credit to China and Britain. 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 stamp today is excellent. As one of the last colonies, it follows the tradition of taking on a more local flavor. It also is respectful toward China, in a way that hints at a smooth transition. If the transition to Chinese sovereignty had gone poorly, this stamp would look foolish. Instead time has vindicated the stamp, and the efforts of those on both sides.

Todays stamp is issue A102, a 50 cent stamp issued by the British colony of Hong Kong on November 18th, 1987. It was part of a four stamp issue in various denominations that depict traditional Chinese folk costumes. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used. The boom in the value of mainland Chinese stamps has not yet stretched to include Hong Kong. I am surprised by this as it is the type of place that many diverse people have spent time in and therefore may want to collect the stamps. It may have to do with a notion in China that Chinese from Hong Kong think themselves superior.

Britain acquired Hong Kong in perpetuity in the opium wars in the 19th century. The complicating factor was that they acquired New Territories in 1898 by the method of a 99 year lease. Throughout the time of colony status, the vast bulk of the residents were ethnically Chinese. Indeed there were more Filipino and Indonesians that often worked as servants than British.

Around 1980, it became clear that something had to be done in regard to the new territory lease that was to expire in 1998. China made it clear that it intended to not renew the lease and indeed expected to have the whole of Hong Kong revert to Chinese sovereignty. This made Hong Kong residents fearful as they had greatly prospered under British rule. The property values in Hong Kong were quite high. As the standard mortgage at the time was 15 years, it was thought that the issue had to be resolved 15 years before the lease was up.

The colony was not easily defended militarily and indeed most of the food and water supply came from China. Combined with the ethnic Chinese roots of most of the people meant there was no realistic way for Britain to hold on to the colony. Luckily for Hong Kong, Margaret Thatcher and Deng Zhou Ping worked out a good deal for the residents. Hong Kong would be allowed to keep it’s separate economic and judicial system including it’s own money. It was also protected from waves of mainland Chinese being allowed to move there. Ethnic Chinese were allowed automatic Chinese citizenship and foreign workers including British were not removed. Some were disappointed that regular British citizenship was not offered to Hong Kong citizens. Since there were over 5 million people in Hong Kong, this was simply too much to ask of Great Britain. The transition of the whole colony went smoothly in 1997 to the credit of all involved.

Well my drink is empty so I will poor another to toast the late Margaret Thatcher, the late Deng Zhuo Ping, and the still with us last British governor Chris Patton. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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China celebrates Tibetan Liberation

Soon after the Communists came to power in mainland China, they set about ending the supposed independence of Tibet. A task the nationalist and communist could agree on. Tibet being a closed off society back then, it is hard to discern their opinion. 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 poorly printed and features a peasant plowing a field behind 2 yaks. One has to love it. It is also evocative of the Chinese view of the Tibetan conflict. An ancient elite maintains a system that benefits themselves but ignores the fellow scratching out a living behind those stinky yaks. All of my readers won’t agree with that but stamp issues can be well used to clearly make a case. The Chinese have done that here.

The stamp today is issue A22, a 1000 yuan,(pre-devaluation), stamp issued by the Peoples Republic of China on March 15th, 1952. The stamp is part of a 4 stamp issue celebrating the liberation of Tibet in 1950. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $16 in it’s mint condition. PRC stamps have risen in value recently due to the rise in collecting in China. This is a trend I would like to see spread. At $16, this is the highest value stamp I have to date wrote about at The-Philatelist.com.

With the fall of the last Emperor in China in 1911, Tibet was effectively independent. The then Dalai Lama, the spiritual and political head of Tibet, declared the relationship with China was one of patron and priest and that Tibet was now independent. This independence was not recognized by China or any other country, but China was too distracted elsewhere to rope back in Tibet. The ancient feudal system and the 6000 plus monasteries continued.

After the Communist came to power in 1949, the Tibet situation was dealt with. An army massed on the border and the Tibetan government recognized Chinese sovereignty over Tibet. There was much modernization of education and transportation and the capital was electrified and provided with running water. There were also the beginning of land reform in the countryside.

The CIA and India supported rebels that were airdropped in to foment resistance. This was a wasted effort. The people dropped in were mainly aristocrats who were mostly never heard from again. In 1959, China became more serious about attacking the ancient institutions that they felt were holding the people back. This was in line with what was happening in the rest of China. Monasteries and feudal estates came under attack. The Dalai Lama fled to India and formed a government in exile. No government has recognized the exile government as legitimate but it has succeeded in making Tibet an anti China cause celebre’. Recently the Dalai Lama has said that he only seeks local autonomy but China already considers Tibet an autonomous region. There have been unproductive talks about the issue between the parties.

Well my drink his empty so I will pour another to toast the peasant behind the yak. His wish would be that the powers that be whoever they may be would spend more time looking out for him. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

PS. Happy birthday to my daughter and stamp collector Elisabeth. Hope your reading.

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Columbia, a facade of culture is important when the country is ungovernable

Columbia was a violent place in the 20th century, with a government mired in failure. It may make the parts that work, like the arts and the academy more important to national identity. 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 design of this stamp seems to let it down. A name, birth and death years, a portrait of an old man, and a too small to read emblem. Perhaps Mr. Casas was better known in Columbia, but he had died an old man many years before. If the point was for Columbians to remember Mr. Casas, something more of his accomplishments should have been included.

The stamp today is issue A325, a 1.7 centavo airmail stamp issued by Columbia on January 18th, 1967. The stamp honors Jose Joaquin Casas, a poet, educator, diplomat, and a leader of the Columbian Academy of the Spanish language. It would have seemed to make sense to issue the stamp the year before as it was the 100th anniversary of the birth of Mr. Casas, but perhaps a year late is close enough. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Columbia entered the 20th century in a bad place. Having already lost much land, the territory of Panama was lost in 1903. A war was also being fought with Peru over the Amazon river basin. The country was not beset by racial or religious divisions. It was just that the Conservative and Liberal Party could not get along. To some extent it came down to neither side politically taking the blame for the failure to even hold together the country. Columbia eventually took a payoff from the USA to renounce claims on Panama. Do I even have to explain that the money did not go to the people? The Peru issue was not resolved by the war but by the intervention of the League of Nations.

With a record like this, it makes you wonder what Columbia puts on it’s stamps. Here there was some creativity. The population was gradually moving to the cities, especially Bogotá. There was some tradition of arts and professional societies in the big cities. This history is heavily explored on the stamps. Perhaps this is being used as an invitation to a more civilized life in the cities. It is better than just another 150 year old portrait of Simon Bolivar, the independence hero.

Well my drink is empty and so I will pour another to toast Mr. Casas. It cannot have been easy to dedicate ones life to the arts in the mist of all the political and economic turmoil. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Australia attempts nation building in Papua New Guinea but only enriches a corrupt elite

In studying colonial issue stamps, we wrestle with how a colonial power leaves. Some times the best laid plans go wrong. 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.

There is a period in a march toward independence that this stamp represents well. The colonials are still in power, but there is an effort to make a place in the institutions for the locals. This is well intended. However some of the institutions will have no relevance to locals. Thus the craft worker on the stamp from 1969, nor the Papuan craft worker of today will not have any awareness of the International Labour Association, which this stamp celebrates.

The stamp today is issue A62, a 5 cent stamp issued by the Territory of Papua and New Guinea on September 24th, 1969. It was a single stamp issue celebrating the 50th anniversary of the International Labour Organization. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or used.

Papua New Guinea is a very diverse place where English is the language of government and Christianity widely practiced. The vast majority of the people  are indigenous Papuans with many different tribal languages and religious practices. Perhaps not the ideal place to launch a political system based on Australia but that is what was intended. Australia became the colonial power after World War II. A several year campaign had been fought during that war by the Australians to remove the Japanese. More than 7000 Australians died in that ultimately successful effort.

An Australian Brigadier General Donald Cleland was appointed administrator. He set out making places for locals in the institutions and set up a local assembly. His wife Rachel worked with local chapters of the YWCA and the Girl Guides. Donald Cleland ended the ban on natives drinking alcohol. The World Bank was invited in to devise a development plan that was funded mostly by Australia. As independence neared, Cleland stayed on in retirement and served as chancellor of the University of Papua New Guinea and of the local archdiocese of the Anglican Church.

Independence was achieved in 1975 with Michael Somare being the first prime minister. He was educated first by the occupying Japanese and then later by the Australians and became a teacher. He became an advocate for independence and pointed to the problem of local artifacts not being preserved. The colonial authority named him to the board chair of the national Museum.

As Prime Minister, things did not go so well. There was never stability with constantly shifting alliances and no confidence votes between the same few people including Somare. The artifacts proved not really to be important to him as the national Museum became derelict post independence. There have been constant corruption charges that the powerful refuse to respond to. Mr. Somare sneered at the house that was given to the country by Australia for the prime minister as not grand enough. He has since bought a series of homes that he refuses to say how he paid for. Australia attempted to send police and administrators to see that their aid was not squandered but they were refused entry into the country.

The way I have written this might make Cleland look good and Somare look bad. This could be thought of as being an apologist of colonialism. While I feel it is not debatable that Cleland occupies a higher moral ground the problem really is how the same they are. Somare may be ethnically local and sometimes adorns himself in the trappings of a local tribesman, he is no closer to the average Papuan than Cleland. He is a product of the colonial system that Australia imposed. That he resents it and games it for more aid is not surprising. That the locals tolerate his ilk is the real surprise.

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

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Portugal holds on to the Azores, it becomes very useful in wartime

The Azores are a group of volcanic islands well off Portugal, and islands in the middle of a big ocean become useful in wartime. 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 surprising thing about this stamp is how much it is treated as just another far off trading post of the Portuguese Empire. A standard empire stamp overprinted Azores. This does not represent the differences from other colonies. The main one was that the people are actually ethnically Portuguese. It was though a sparsely populated island in the middle of the Atlantic. It is understandable that the administration thus resembles a colony.

The stamp today is issue PP1, a one centavo parcel post stamp issued by Portugal for use in the Azores in 1921. It is part of a 17 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 50 cents in it’s mint condition. There are mistakes of this stamp where the Azores overprint is inverted. That would make the stamp worth $6.00. My stamp has the overprint in the correct way. I must say that if I found an obscure stamp from a far off place that is nearly 100 years old with an inverted overprint, I would be very disappointed with a value of $6. In a sane world that would be the kind of stamp that should put me on easy street.

The Azores was discovered early by the Portuguese but it took a while to send colonists. There were no indigenous peoples. It became a place to go for rivals of the Portuguese government or Portuguese Jews that were fleeing the Catholic Inquisition that happened in Portugal as well as Spain.

The islands however became quite lucrative to Portugal during World War II. At first the right of center government of Salazar allowed German shipping and submarines to refuel there. During 1943, with German war fortunes on the decline, German rights in the Azores were rescinded and a new deal was struck with the British. The Americans quickly followed leasing a large piece of land and constructing an airbase. This airbase got rid of the gap where the allied Atlantic convoys had to operate without air cover. The airbase is still used by the Americans. During the cold war, it was ready to perform a similar function as during World War II. Even in the post cold war period, the base has proved useful for American aircraft transiting from the USA to the middle east.

In 1974 there was a carnation coup by young army officers that sought to end the military commitments necessary to hold on to Portuguese colonies. Azores was allowed to stay affiliated with Portugal, but was reorganized as an autonomous region. The opening of air links has allowed a great rise in tourism in the peaceful temperate islands. In recent years it has begun again to issue commemorative stamps.

The people of the Azores, while Portuguese, developed somewhat independently and became expert in fishing. Communities of fisherman Azorean immigrants can be found in Newfoundland, New England, Brazil, and even San Diego and Hawaii.

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.

 

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Brunei gets shrunken and scammed before it struck it rich

The way the British wormed their way into Brunei is a story worth telling. 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.

This was the first stamp issue of Brunei. There were none issued before British protectorate status. It is still a well printed stamp showing a peaceful river scene. The British colonials using this stamp to communicate with home, were well served.

The stamp today is issue A1, a 1 cent stamp issued by the Sultanate of Brunei in 1926. This stamp, in various colors and denominations was issued for 30 years from 1907-1937. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.25 mint. The stamp to look out for in this long running set  is the black and red $25 version. It is worth $1200 used. There exists mistakes with inverted watermarks that can be worth as much as 5 times this.

Brunei was an ancient empire that once controlled much of the island of Borneo and even the Philippines. The Philippines was lost to the Spanish who then came to conquer Brunei. The Spanish occupation was short lived as much of their force fell to malaria. This allowed the Sultan to return to power.

The British encroachment began when a British adventurer named Brooke was given the territory of Sarawak after assisting the Sultan in a rebellion. After that he was constantly pressuring Brunei to yield more land to his white rajah area. See also https://the-philatelist.com/2018/02/21/the-last-white-rajah-of-sarawak-much-to-the-annoyance-of-many/. The Sultan asked for help from Britain in containing the Brooke dynasty in Sarawak. Britain agreed to protectorate status in which it would maintain Brunei’s current borders from outsiders. A few years later, Sarawak took another chunk of land and Britain did nothing to help Brunei, as they did not consider Sarawak a foreign entity. Brunei today is a very small territory, a small fraction of it’s once great empire.

The time of this stamp was before the discovery of oil. The then Sultan, Muhammad Jamalul Alam Aquamadin was the last of the Sultans to lack a western education. He was a devout Muslim who built a Mosque and had Mohammaddan, (Islamic) law codified. Later in his reign a British resident was awarded executive powers that had previously been with the Sultan. The Sultan died of malaria at age 35.

Oil was discovered in 1929. This was after 2 British men smelled it and thought it was worth a survey and test wells. The oil has made Brunei quite rich and the current sultan is one of the richest people in the world. The descendants of the Brookes are not as wealthy and Sarawak was absorbed by Malaysia upon independence from Great Britain. British protectorate status ended in 1984  for Brunei although there is still much military cooperation.

Well my drink is empty and so I will open the discussion in the below comment section. One can see how the colonials in this type of place can be viewed as interlopers but it is hard to imagine such a place functioning in the modern world without the interference. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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A poor Portugal rents out a colony to British big business

In the late 19th century, Portugal did not have the resources to develop all the territory they controlled. So in a few instances, areas were rented out to British businesses. 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 a Portuguese colony that existed in present day Mozambique. It is more complicated than that. The colony was leased out to a British company in the hopes that they would have the resources to develop the place. One of the ways they hoped to make money was the issuance of postage stamps that were legal for postage in the colony but mainly existed for stamp collectors. As such we are treated to well colored pictures of exotic animals to whet the collector’s appetite. One issue is that the stamp shows a camel, and camels do not get that far south in Africa. Remember though it was a British company dealing with Portuguese printers, so a little confusion about what exotic animals to display is understandable. The was a separate British colony nearby called Nyasaland. It is now known as Malawi.

The stamp today is A6, a 75 reis stamp issued by the Niassa company in 1901. It features camels and the Portuguese monarch. It was part of a thirteen stamp issue in various denominations. The issue continued for over 20 years with various surcharges and the transition of Portugal to a republic. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.75 mint. There are fakes and inverted pictures with this issue, although I am sure the catalog struggled where to draw the line at what point this issue is fake.

The Niassa Company was formed to acquire the concession of the territory in Portuguese Africa. It was formed in Portugal but the ownership was British. The hope was to develop cotton plantations that could be lucrative. The Portuguese set out standards of development but they were not achieved. The business plan of the company was that over 10 percent of the revenue was to be from the issuance of postage stamps.

The cotton plantations did not go well. By taking the best farm land away from food production meant that there was less food for the community. The company also passed property taxes that required much labor to satisfy. This system was called chibalo. As such it was a short step away from slavery.

The concession ran 30 years till 1929 when the Portuguese refused to renew the arrangement. The company dissolved and Portugal appointed a  colonial governor, Theodorico de Sacadura. He worked hard for many years to end the system of chibalo and other methods of exploiting the local tribes. Even after independence,  Sacadura was allowed to stay on in Mozambique as most Portuguese were forced to leave. This was out of respect for him and the work he had done as colonial governor. He died in 1987 having completed 2 books that gave some of the best accounts of the late colonial period in Mozambique.

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