Month: April 2025

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Tanganyika 1961, turning an Arabic trading post into a traditionally African city

Tanganyika got its independence from Britain in 1961. The British tended to be good stewards of trading posts on the India trade routes. That was ending though with African leadership and unimagined population growth. 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 stamp shows the harbor of Dar es Salaam as seen from the then European neighborhood of Oyster Bay. At the time, newly independent Tanganyika was in a postal union with Uganda and Kenya. For independence, they could not resist having an issue to celebrate. I am glad they did as it showed the assets of the place making the case that things could work out. I recently did a South African stamp that tried to do the same thing, except in their case with non colonial white rule. Seehttps://the-philatelist.com/2018/12/21/south-africa-1966-a-tiny-minority-can-go-it-alone-because-they-have-diamonds-but-do-they/  . It will offend both nations to say so, but the stamp issues are remarkably similar, right down to the diamond issue. It was also similar in that both sets of early hope did not quite pan out.

Todays stamp is issue A7, a 2 British East African Shilling stamp issued by newly independent Tanganyika on December 9th, 1961. It was a 12 stamp issue in various denominations that celebrated the achievement of independence. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents used.

Dar es Salaam was a coastal city founded by the Sultan of Zanzibar in 1866. It means in Arabic, Home of Peace. It was set up as a trading post. When the Germans conquered the area they also based their activities out of Dar es Salaam. They also built a railroad that eased trade with the interior of the country. The area passed to Britain after World War I but continued as a multiethnic trading post. British rule saw a flood of Indians brought in as contract laborers but then often staying on as merchants.

Julius Nyerere was the local African independence leader that became the first Prime Minister, then with a new not British constitution one party President. The multi ethnic nature of Dar es Salaam was not what he had in mind. He proposed moving to a new capital that was not tainted by colonialism and therefore all black. However he was never able to string together enough foreign aid or local productivity to get a proper capital built. The colonial whites were quick to depart Dar es Salaam but Arabs and Indians were also hounded to leave, without their wealth of course. He also supported Africans in Zanzibar to overthrow their Arab sultan and join Tanganyika now renamed Tanzania, the z referring to Zanzibar. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/01/29/zanzibar-when-the-arabs-needed-the-british/  Many not African traders were forced into exile but this time whites were left alone so not to attract British intervention.

Nyerere tried to encourage Africans not to move to Dar es Salaam with its colonial taint but rather stay in their villages. He was not successful in this. In 1960, Dar es Salaam had fewer than 200,000 thousand people less than half were ethnically African. Today the city is near 5 million and over 99 percent African. I will leave it to you to compare the economic status of the old trading posts that retained their multi ethnic status after colonial times like Hong Kong, Singapore, and Dubai to those that did not like Dar es Salaam, Aden, Tangier, and Mombasa.

The current Tanzanian President still from Nyerere’s old party still believes Tanzania needs to grow it’s population. He has closed down family planning western aid as racist and encouraged Tanzanian fathers to have larger families and not be too lazy to support them.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast those that had to uproot themselves suddenly when they were no longer welcome. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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Netherlands 1967, a technical university goes brutal

Delft University of Technology has over the previous 177 years,become one the premier technical universities in the world. As such, it is much larger than how it started. In the 1960s that change was reflected in a new assembly hall that replaced a small local chapel for university events. With more students, the University thought big and brutal. 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.

I suspect the stamp designer was not a fan of brutalist architecture. Well it is an acquired taste. One that I am myself acquiring after doing this Polish stamp, seehttps://the-philatelist.com/2019/03/20/poland-1976-would-it-be-too-brutal-to-try-this-again/ and this Soviet stamp, see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/01/02/soviet-union-1983-a-superpower-builds-big/.In those cases it was cold war era communist behind the buildings, but in this case the building came to be in the Netherlands. The impulses were the same as the school was more for the masses than before. Notice the floating spaceship aspect of the building built in 1966, the Russian fad of making their brutalist building appear to be floating was 10 years later. Innovation, as you would expect from a premier university in the field using it’s own graduates.

Todays stamp is issue A107, a 20 cent stamp issued by the Netherlands on January 5th, 1967. It was a single stamp issue celebrating the 125th anniversary of Delft University of Technology by showing the then new assembly hall. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or used.

The University was founded as a Royal Academy in 1842. The original intent was to train colonial administrators for the then vast Dutch colonial empire. Originally the colonies were owned by the Dutch East India Company but the company went bankrupt and was nationalized in 1799. The Napoleonic Wars then played havoc with the empire but after that  the need was seen for more professional management. Over time, the Netherlands home country was rapidly industrializing  and the school transitioned to providing engineering training on an ever more vast scale. At the time of the Royal Academy there were 400 students, now there are over 19,000.

The assembly hall is called the Aula. It was designed by the architectural firm of van den Broek and Bakema, who were both graduates of the University. The firm mainly did large apartment buildings around Rotterdam in the Brutalist style but really went to town with the Aula. Their work was of some note internationally and they were invited to participate in the Interbau development in late 50s West Berlin. See that period Berlin architecture on a stamp here https://the-philatelist.com/2018/09/17/berlin-1966-a-new-divided-and-more-corporate-berlin/

The building still stands though the great masses of visible prestressed concrete tends to be discolored if not recently pressurewashed. That is okay, brutalism only improves with a little wear, enhancing the period feel. Delft Technical University received the honor of another stamp on the 150th anniversary in 1992, but that issue did not feature the architecture of the campus. Perhaps the many newer buildings did not measure up.

Well my drink is empty, and thankfully my University days are far behind me. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

 

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France 2003, Paris remembers fondly the peasant Cassoulet of Languedoc, to give a direction for white flight

This is a stamp, printed in Paris, that displays their view of the regions. Interesting that for the Languedoc region of southwest France, they picked a peasant dish to goes so far into tradition, that it contains a little of the dish that came before. This as Languedoc was taking in ordinary workers who could no longer exist in Paris do to the stratification. 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 stamp issue is meant to celebrate the regions of France. That it was put together by Paris sophisticates is obvious by the subjects chosen. Thus the region of Languedoc is not represented by the Airbus factory, but rather an old style peasant dish containing lots of beans. Says something I think of those moving from Paris to there. Good bye and good eats, and don’t forget your yellow vest.

Todays stamp is issue A1642, a 50 Euro Cents stamp issued by France on May 24th, 2003. It was a 10 stamp issue showing aspects of the various regions of France and was available as well as a souvenir sheet. According to the Scott catalog, any individual stamp from the sheet is worth $1.30 used. The souvenir sheet as a whole is worth $16.

The Languedoc region of France is one of the fastest growing regions as real estate is more affordable and all of the industry as yet to depart. The region came into France later than areas further north so shows some vestiges of Spanish and Italian influences. By French standards, the area still has a low population density.

The Cassoulet dish originated among peasants and was a casserole containing white beans, sausage and pork skins and often duck or goose. Interestingly when the dish is eaten the brown stains at the bottom of the pot are deglazed and stored as a base for the next time. In this way there is an unbroken continuity from a dish from many years before. Sounds a lot like whiskey makers transferring the sour mash dregs of the last batch into the next one for continuity and tradition. This talk has now made me both hungry and thirsty though I am no fan of beans, sausage or eating foul. Well part of the tradition of peasant cooking in the big pot is throwing in whatever is on hand.

Of course tradition can always be dumbed down and homogenized. French big box supermarkets sell premade cassoulets in cans and jars. No doubt whatever finds its way into those giant casserole dishes/industrial vats is just as good. At least it gives something to throw at the next yellow vest rally.

Well my drink is empty, and my wife has in mind Thai food for lunch. No French peasant food around here and I can’t convince my wife to crack open her Jacque Pepin cookbook. You can trust that I will be thinking of Cassoulet while I eat my drunken noodles. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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Nicaragua 1976, Somoza will bleed the peasants dry and then automate their function

This series of stamps shows American progress over 200 years in celebration of the Bicentennial that year. In it though you can spot the hereditary Somoza regime’s plan to pacify the country. The plan was pretty fanciful, but lucky for the USA at the time Nicaragua was only exporting their rich people. The much more numerous poor would have to wait a few more generations. 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 multiple harvesters are not an accurate picture of agriculture in Nicaragua even over 40 years later. Then President Somoza’s son might argue it might had the Somozas not been forced to flee in 1979, who knows how much  extra progress might have occurred. The wealthy landowner class would surely have been interested in automating the peasant function.

Todays stamp is issue A308, a 3 Centavo stamp issued by Nicaragua on May 25, 1976. It was a 16 stamp issue in various denominations the showed before and after views of American progress after 200 years in various fields. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or used.

Anastasio Somoza was the third member of his family to serve as President. It was a corrupt regime of the landowner class and as was common, a big percentage of the families lived overseas. Somoza’s mother was French and his wife Hope, though a cousin, was born and raised in the USA. Somoza took power in 1967 after his older brother had bowed out. Central America was starting to be the recipient of massive food aid from the USA that was reducing hunger and what soon followed was a great increase in population, mainly among the poor. These masses of peasants were not satisfied with the regime which seemed to be routing the American aid from them to the leaders pockets. Meantime Hope, now Madame Somoza, was appearing in worldwide best dressed lists.

Madame Hope Somoza with an American Cardinal. she was less popular with local priests and their annoying liberation theology

One moneymaking scheme of the Somoza’s was especially offensive to the poor. He set up a company Plasimaferesis. Every day thousands of peasants lined up for 35 Cordobas in exchange for their blood. This was immediately exported. When this practice continued after a large earthquake in 1972 it was very damaging to the regime. Again there was an outpouring of aid that seemingly wasn’t getting through to the peasants. When Carter became President of the USA in 1977, he cut off aid to people like Somoza due to their stench. !977 was a rough year for Somoza has he also had a heart attack which saw his son as caretaker while he sought treatment in the civilized world. With the only military aid coming in from Isreal it was time to strike and the local leftists took up the cause of the peasants. It was the Somoza’s time to leave. The USA would not take President Somoza and he ended up in Paraguay with his mistress. Hope separated from him and moved to London. In 1986, the leftists came for Somoza in Paraguay as they had for his father in 1956. Operation Reptile, lead by a Argentine leftist code named Ramon assassinated Somoza by blowing up his Mercedes outside his estate. It took two RPG shots, the car was well armored. Former? Madame Hope Samoza found a rich Salvadoran to marry the next year.

The leftists of course were not any better for the peasants as they were not going to attract American aid and the East was only generous with out of date arms. Now Central America has learned to send their peasants to the USA directly to claim their aid. These peasants are lined up also outside American blood plasma centers to sell their blood every morning. Ironic isn’t it.

Well my drink is empty and I think I may reread my old piece on William Walker. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/09/27/costa-rica-remembers-the-the-drummer-boy-that-saved-central-america-from-an-american-manifest-destiny/   . Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.