The Mahra Sultinnate occupied the eastern portion of South Yemen and Socotra Island for 700 years prior to falling in 1967. Where does that leave this stamp from 1968? In the state of being fake, though tolerated by the new South Yemen government. Don’t try to mail them. 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 Philatelist obviously has no problem with stamps that celebrate the Olympics. This one is just silly and a missed opportunity. The new government was allowing the old Sultanates to continue fake stamp issues. Obviously they were doing this for the money by why not use the stamp issues to show what was going on in Mahra? Some things were changing, some things they hoped to change, and others were staying the same. A license to chronical that with fake but illuminating stamps would attract this collector. Instead we have a fallen Sultanate famous for it’s camels showing you a generic luge team.
Todays stamp was not for postage so has no catalog value. I checked on eBay and they had a 10 stamp issue from this period and were asking $50. Steep.
The Mahra Sultanate had been ruled by the Banu Afrar dynasty since the 1400s. They also controlled the island of Socotra that attracted more than their share of Europeans. The Portuguese were the first to conquer it as a replenishment stop for it’s ships on the India trade. Once there, they found it less useful than hoped and abandoned it. Prior to getting the nearby colony of Aden up and operating, the British East India company leased a coaling station on Socotra but found the Sultan untrustworthy so again the area was lightly used.
On the mainland, the region became most famous for mehri camels, who are fast, agile, and tough. Mahri tribesmen on their famous camels played a big part in the capture if the Middle East and North Africa in the name of Islam. Later in a somewhat different cause the French Army prized the mehri camels for their Sahara adventures. This history was remembered by Citroen in 1968 when their jeep version of the 2CV was named Mehari. It lasted 20 years in production and yes many were bought by the French Army.
When Aden was abandoned by the British in 1967 that was the end of the Federation of South Arabia that included Mahra and all the area Sultans. Initially they did not resist the occupation by pan Arabist from Aden. The Sultans scattered to Saudi Arabia, London, and Switzerland. Those pan Arabist who were hoping for an end to European intrusion were to be disappointed. Starting in 1971, Socotra was open as a replenishment stop not for the Portuguese or the British, but the Soviet Navy. As happened in previous times the Soviets found the island surplus of requirements and abandoned it in 1985.
The island of Socotra is again appearing useful in the civil war in modern Yemen. The United Arab Emirates landed at the airport allegedly to help train the Yemeni army unit on the island. Instead the unit announced to UAE’s approval that they support a separation from Yemen. The current pretender to the Banu Afrar Dynasty has now also arrived on Socotra, he says at the invitation of local tribal chiefs. I humbly suggest that he just rents his old palace instead of buying it. He did bring with him a big supply of the old style flags. Can more fake stamps be far behind?
Well my drink is empty. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.