Late colonization started getting into the outlands. In Niger, France hoped for gold mines but instead found two peoples at war with each other and too late to make the colony profitable, uranium. 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.
Niger is the inland area near the mouth of the Niger river. Except in the immediate area of the river, the colony was arid desert. What this stamp shows is drawing water from a well. Leave it to the colonists to find an area of activity that their presence is making the area better for everybody.
Todays stamp is issue A2, a 1 Centime stamp issued by the French colony of Niger in 1926. This was a 44 stamp issue in various denominations that were printed for many years. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.
The area of colonial Niger had been fought over for many years between the darker skin Djerma people who lived in fixed places and the Tuareg, a lighter skin Berber people that were Nomadic. Both groups were Muslim even before the arrival of Europeans. The Tuaregs are sometimes called blue skinned because they tended to wear blue clothes that stained their skin beneath. The French established scattered military posts and made economic deals with the Djerma people for contract labor. The Tuareg proved more difficult to subdue and after they were, it was decided to form a separate colony in Niger. This was in order to have more control. Niger was far away from the main colonial administration center in Dakar, Senegal.
France had hoped to find mineral deposits and did but too late to make the colony a moneymaker for France. 3 years before independence, uranium was found by French miners looking for copper. The project took many years to get under way as French interest in the area faded and the post independence government corrupt and inefficient. A coup replaced the government and uranium production got under way in 1974. It quickly became the major industry in Niger but is not as profitable as it might be as it requires a long journey by truck through Benin to finally get shipped to France. The Niger government is constantly asking for more royalties and the mines often shut down when the market price makes the whole scheme not worth the headache. Niger enticed China to build a new mine close by the existing French one. It was only in operation for a short time because the revenue generated could not service the debt incurred. The uranium deposits found in Niger are great and mostly untapped but it is a desolate place. The Tauregs, which play a limited part in the Djerma government have again begun to agitate for sovereignty, and a piece of the uranium income. Meanwhile the population of Niger is 30 times what it was at independence with most living on food aid from the USA and the uranium sits in the ground. No doubt the place would have done better as a colony. More uranium production, more family planning, and less living off the charity of others.
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the French for finding the uranium as they previously found the well water on todays old stamp. The fact that the locals have proved incapable of making anything of it is on them. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.