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Swaziland Protectorate, What Africa would look like if it were never colonized?

The key word on this stamp is protectorate. The Swazi tribe and the local King survived the colonial division of Africa in the 19th Century. The still present Protectorate status prevented it from being dragged into Apartheid South Africa and protected it even after independence from Zulu incursions from modern South Africa. As such it shows a unique more traditionally African situation. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

So if Swaziland was so independent with even it’s own King, why is British King George V on the stamp. In my mind, he shouldn’t be but lets be realistic about who was mailing and receiving letters in Swaziland in 1922. People from Britain and South Africa concerning business and administration. The stamps like the people described above came from London. Today Swazi stamps do a better job of showing the local King, with only an occasional nod to the Commonwealth and Queen Elizabeth.

Todays stamp is issue A2, a half Penny stamp issued by the British Protectorate of Swaziland in 1922. It was part of a 10 stamp issue of various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.

In the South Africa of the 19th century, the area was divided into English and Boer areas and included several African tribal homelands including Swaziland. The Swazi tribe had their own King, Sobhuza II, who ruled from 1899-1982. This is the longest royal rule ever recorded.

It was intended for Swaziland to transition into South Africa after World War II. This was against the King’s wishes and when South Africa broke ties with Britain to maintain white rule, Britain changed their mind and was now in favor of Swaziland independence under it’s King. Those in London that know better still required a new council that empowered urban educated socialist over the King. Four years after independence the King dissolved the council in favor of traditional tribal leadership. The urbans were a small minority so this worked out. The revenue for Swaziland comes mainly from a Southern Africa Customs Union that dates from colonial times. The population grows almost as fast as the economy so the place is fairly poor.

The King during a tribal reed dance.

Current King Mswatti III has been on the thrown since 1986. He has 15 wives and 35 children. The first two wives were picked for him by the tribe and their children are in the line of succession. In Swaziland, a prospective wife is called a bride until she becomes pregnant, then she is a fiancé and the marriage ceremony can go forward. In an effort to curb AIDS, the King decreed that Swazi teenage girls retain virginity until age 18. He then violated his own rule by recruiting a new under age bride. He was duly charged with the violation and paid the fine, a cow. There has been some controversy as to the Kings lifestyle, most notably a Maybach automobile. The King responded to the controversy by making it illegal to photograph the King’s cars. Things are not perfect, but they are much more stable and secure that the rest of Africa with it’s colonial legacy and the local crooks that now man it.

The Japanese First Lady with 6 of the King’s 15 wives. Imagine how impressed Madame Abe would have been with full attendance.

In 2018, the King became concerned that some people may confuse Swaziland with Switzerland. Therefore he renamed his Kingdom Eswatini, which is Swazi for land of the Swazis.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the the Dlamini Royal House of the Swazi tribe. No it is not perfect, but a much better reflection of African heritage. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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Crete, less than satisfied by a Danish/Greek Prince, the Cretans revolt with fake stamps

A Greek island rebels against Turk rule, sounds like a job for a Danish, no excuse me Greek Prince? I don’t think so and neither did the Cretans, but the Great Powers thought they knew better. 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 a fake stamp. Issued at the time of the Theriso revolt, and of no postal value and does not have any catalog value. Being therefore a revenue raiser. I would have expected less ostentation and more revolutionary zeal.

Crete was a Christian/Greek island that was long a part of the Ottoman Empire. In 1897 the Cretans revolted against the Turks. At this point the Great Powers stepped in with troop deployments ending Turk rule, though a suzerainty to the Ottomans was still paid. This occupation was under a High Commissioner, Prince George, the second son of the King of Greece and also a Prince of Denmark. He was a lot more Danish than Greek and so many Cretans were less than satisfied with the arrangement. Prince George was quite imperious, immediately demanding the Cretans build him a palace. Where after all is a Royal to lay his weary head. He also proved unable to get the Great Powers to agree to union with Greece. The Cretans rebelled against Prince George and a civil war was on. This was not what the Great Powers signed up for and they ended up paying the Cretans for the right to leave and to take Prince George with them. Greece sent another high commissioner, this time an actual Greek and then the Cretans unilaterally declared union with Greece.

Prince George ended up settling in France where he married Marie Bonaparte. She was perhaps more famous than he was. She was chronically unsatisfied sexually despite 2 children with allegedly homosexual Prince George, and many affairs with Princes, Prime Ministers and stablemasters. She began a formal study of the then important psychological issue of female  frigidity in conjunction with Sigmund Freud. She studied the sexual histories of several hundred women and the physical distance between their clitoris and vagina. She discovered the greater the distance the greater chance of frigidity. She published the findings under the pseudonym A. E. Narjani in a medical journal. If the distance between the organs was greater than 2.5 centimeters, orgasm was difficult to achieve. She thought herself having this condition, she twice attempted corrective surgery. Her frigidity  remained.

Princess Marie

Well my drink is empty and I am left shaking my head. I intended my articles on stamps to be wide ranging but I never thought I would get that far afield. I may need another drink. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

 

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Japan 1942, saluting the Japanese pilot

The fact of World War II was that most pilots gave their lives to the cause. Even in victory, the British pilot death toll was 46%. For Germany and especially Japan that toll was even higher. For a few, including todays subject, their skill was so great it saved 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.

A pilot saluting his flag. It must be remembered that this portrait is not a kamikaze. This pilot was expected to win and come back home to tell about it. In general, that was too optimistic. Without misplaced optimism, how many wars would be started.

Todays stamp is issue A150, a 15 Sen stamp issued by Imperial Japan in 1942. It was part of a 16 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.50 used.

Today I will tell the story of Japanese Naval Lieutenant Tetsuzo Iwamoto who was one of Japan’s leading fighter aces. According to his diary from the time, he shot down 202 aircraft with his Mitsubishi Zero fighter. Iwamoto was an ace even before Pearl Harbor having been based in Nanking, China and scoring 14 victories against Chinese flown, Russian made Polikarpov I-15 fighters, an out of date biplane fighter. 1942-1944 saw Iwamoto stationed at Rabual in New Guinea where he was in almost constant combat with Australian and American flown fighters. Here his diary credited him with 48 Corsairs, 7 Wildcats, 29 Hellcats, 4 Spitfires, 4 P38s, and 75 various model bombers. The Zero became more out of date as the war went along but never lost it’s unparalleled agility in the hands of an expert pilot. Iwamoto stated that he knew how to beat the American fighters but was impressed how much punishment the heavier fighters could take and keep flying, much more so than his light Zero.

Iwamoto was promoted through the ranks and commissioned as an officer. In 1944 he was transferred back to Japan to train Kamikaze pilots and perform air defense missions including over Okinawa. Unlike Germany where some of the surviving aces were issued jets in the last days of the war hoping for a miracle, Iwamoto flew Zeros till the end.

Tetsuzo Iwamoto, Japanese Zero Ace

Iwamoto was not treated well by his homeland after the war. Called in for questioning several times by the occupation forces, he was not charged with war crimes. He was however blacklisted for employment. There was much pacifist propaganda that viewed the veterans as the pawns of warmongers. Though he desired to fly again for the rest of his life it was not to be. He suffered a misdiagnosed pendacites and then died of sepsis in hospital at age 38 in 1954. The Japanese Self Defense Force Air reformed that same year.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Lieutenant Iwamoto. I think enough time has passed that we can admire the skill and bravery of veterans of all sides of World War 2. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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Prussia 1861, the great questions will not be resolved by speeches and majorities, but by iron and blood

Prussia went from being an important region of German speakers to a Greater German Empire. Well it did have the best army, but it also had a leader with many tools and many enemies. So slip on 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 power of Prussia is not well presented by the stamps. Even in 1861 though, there are the signs of coming together. Lubeck does a version of this stamp and of course the eagle emblem will be common on German Empire stamps in later decades.

A note about currency and the transition. Prussian currency was not yet decimalized and a Silbergroshen as on this stamp was a coin valued at 12 Pfennig. 30 Silbergroshen equaled 1 Thaler, a large silver coin dating from medieval times. After decimalization, a 10 Pfennig coin replaced the Silbergroshen and there were no longer Thalers except as a  slang way to say 3 Marks. Dutch Daalers, Scandinavian Dalers and yes countries that use Dollars can trace these names to the Thaler.

Todays stamp is issue A7, a 1 Silbergroshen stamp issued by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1861. It was a 4 stamp issue in various denominations. There were 2 updated versions with the new currency in 1867. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $1.60 used. This is the lowest value of any Prussian stamp, and I think too low as there are no Prussian stamps less than 150 years old. No doubt this stamp was common when issued. but this poorly printed on cheap paper had to survive in many collections in the many years between then and now.

In 1862, Prussian King Wilhelm I appointed Otto von Bismarck chancellor of Prussia. Bismarck was an aristocrat, then known as Junker. Being appointed, he was only responsible to the monarch and did not face election or interference from the legislature. His main goal was to unite the German people under a single government. That he was able to do this in 3 short victorious wars and through able diplomacy is quite impressive. The first was a war aligned with Austria, the big power in southern Germany against Denmark, taking German speaking areas. Those areas were at first jointly administered with Austria and the inevitable disputes were then used to start a war with Hapsburg Austria, really the only other viable rival to govern all Germans. This war left only France as an obstacle. Their army though was smaller and spread out over their vast empire. France was defeated and could no longer object to Germany coming together.

That does not mean the leaders of the individual German states did not object. Bismarck designed a Federal system for Germany that left some autonomy with the states and even refashioned Prussia as the North German Confederation to make the states feel less conquered.

The dark blue shows how small Prussia was and how little of it is in modern Germany

Once united, Bismarck sought to make Germany more unified. He offered the first safety net for workers to greatly improve their lot in life and to try to connect working class loyalty to the new state. He instituted tariffs to protect German industry. Innovative steps at the time and not what was expected of a conservative figure. At the same time he was aggressively opposed to non German speakers, Socialists and Catholics. This went as far as banning the Socialists and Jesuits who he thought were too tied to the Pope in Rome. After the wars, he promoted peace, having good relations with England and Russia and not challenging them for far flung Empires.

In old age he was replaced as he clashed with the new Kaiser who wanted empire and saw the socialists as less of a threat. Germany thus returned to a war like stance and sure enough Socialists overthrew the Kaiser after World War I. On his death bed in 1898 he made predictions that were prescient. He predicted Germany would last only 20 more years on it’s current foolish course and that war would come from some foolish thing from the Balkans.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast united Germany whether bigger or smaller. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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Bophuthatswana 1985, The Tswana people get industrious in the Bop

South Africa granted a measure of self rule to several black enclaves. This did not satisfy world opposition to apartheid, but that does not mean there was not some achievement during the 17 years of existence. There was also complications when they were forced back in to the new South Africa. 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 do like stamps that show off otherwise unknown industry in far off places. Here we have a plastic bag factory. There must be a lot of those all over the world but I have never seen any. This issue also had stamps for a lady’s hosiery factory and a place that spray painted metal beds. Economic activity in the Bop, as it was unofficially known, is more remembered for platinum mines and the Sun City Resort, neither of which was part of the stamp issue. I am glad they showed more obscure endeavors. It does a good job of communicating that there is more going on than you know.

Todays stamp is issue A36, a 15 South African cent stamp issued by the semi independent Tswana people homeland of Bophuthatswana on October 25th, 1985. It was part of a 21 stamp issue in various denominations showing industry. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents.

The Bop got its independence in 1977. It was a string of disconnected enclaves. It had a black government including a tribal chief, Lucas Mangope, as an elected President. No country recognized the black South African homelands under UN pressure to oppose  Apartheid. The UN worried that recognizing the black homelands meant also recognizing white ruled South Africa. The reality was that the Bop had dealings with neighboring Botswana and Israel through De Beers. The homeland was better situated than many African areas with revenue from platinum and other mines. They also took advantage of their independence to open the Sun City Resort and Casino that provided revenue and much employment. Gambling was otherwise illegal in South Africa and Sun City was an easy drive from several large South African cities. It was open to white and black.

The revenue saw Bop build a large civil service and police. This added complication when white rule was coming to an end in early 90s South Africa. The intention was that the homelands would take part in the first multiracial South African elections and then rejoin new South Africa. People in the Bop including the civil service and President Mangope wondered what that meant for them, their jobs and their pensions. The ANC stroked the fears and the Civil Service went on strike. Mangope ordered his police to put down the strike and announced that they intended to skip the election and stay independent. The police mostly sided with the strikers. Mangope then invited in Right wing armed Boers to beef up what remained of his police. This was a big mistake as the police were not willing to work with them and the resulting looting was enough to bring in the South African police and end the Bop government. Interesting the looting was more aimed at the large shopping mall than the government buildings. Mangope was replaced in the interim by the South African Ambassador.

In modern South Africa, Mangope formed a small conservative. black political party that represented the Tswana tribe, He died in 2018 and his statue still stands in his hometown. It had been moved there from the old Bop government complex in 1994. So far at least, it is still okay to remember fondly the history of the Bop and it’s President.

Bop President Lucas Mangope statue

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to all the small forgotten factories that provide so much needed employment. More stamp issues like this please. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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Poland 1984, remembering the day the red poppies of Monte Cassino drank Polish blood instead of dew

The 4 battles of Monte Cassino were disastrous. The abbey was destroyed and the Allies took 3 times the casualties of the Germans but took the abbey ruins and then Rome. Among the Allies were Americans, New Zealanders, French Algerians, British, and free Poles, whose story we will tell. 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 remembered the Polish participation in the Battle of Monte Cassino 40 years later. There would not have been a stamp on the 10th anniversary. The first position of the communist government was not to honor the service of the free Polish forces in the later campaigns against the Germans. The free thing was the issue, many of these veterans did not return to Poland ruled by communists. Eventually a good story will be told though and many nations tried to climb that hill over several months and it was the Poles who made it to the top.

Todays stamp is issue A826, a 15 Zloty stamp issued by Poland on May 18th, 1984 on the 40th anniversary of the taking of the ruins of the abbey. It was a single stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

The abbey of Monte Cassino was built in 529AD. In 1943, Italy was occupied by Germany after the Royal government deposed Mussolini and changed sides. The allies had landed in Sicily and were slowly pushing north. The Germans set up a defensive Gustav Line that took advantage of mountains and a river in order to defend the approaches to Rome. The Abby itself was not occupied by the Germans, it was already an historic site, and the Germans had assisted in relocating the abbeys treasures to Vatican City. As a stone edifice at the top of a high mountain it still became a symbol of what stood between the Allies and Rome. First the abbey was heavily bombed by the allies but at that point it only held Italian civilians seeking refuge. That does not mean the Germans were not elaborately emplaced with strong artillery support. The first two assaults were carried out by Americans who suffered horrible losses. At that point the Americans were poorly lead and had little fighting experience. The third assault was by the British and as per their usual, many of their troops were from their Empire, including New Zealanders and Gurkhas. The Free French in the form of their colonial Algerians and Moroccans took part. Some progress was made but the British did not follow through on gains.

By now the Germans were evacuating Rome and withdrawing their army intact to the new Spengler line further north. It fell upon the British and the Poles fighting alongside for the final assault on the Monte Cassino abbey. The mountain had now been fought over for many months that spring and allies looking up at it marveled at the red poppies that sprang fourth every morning with the dew. This inspired the Polish song written the night before the final assault by Alfred Shutz and quoted in translation in the title of this piece. The assault cost the Poles 1000 men but they were the first to reach the summit. Only 20 Germans were captured that were too wounded to move. Rome fell without a fight to Americans a few weeks later.

I mentioned that many of the Polish veterans did not return to Poland under the communists. Alfred Shutz was among them settling and marrying in Munich post war. When he died without heirs, the rights to the song passed to the German state of Bavaria. That was awkward, but the state than gifted the song to the modern Polish government in 2009.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the soldiers on all sides who fought near Monte Cassino. The allied assaults were poorly planned with little follow through with the bombing of the Abbey itself a militarily useless tragedy. The Germans for there part commited their reserves too early that made it harder to hold Rome. The Italians themselves were no shows. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019

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Mozambique Company 1937, taking credit where none was due

A big, impressive, long bridge allowing a railroad and people to cross the Zambezi river. An impressive accomplishment that could have never happened without outside help. If you are a development company, that hasn’t actually developed anything, why not try to take credit, especially when your contract is almost up for renewal. 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 we cover an early version of a common third world stamp. Where a stamp celebrates a new piece of infrastructure while obscuring and ignoring the generosity through which it happened. Mozambique then or now could have never built such a large, long lasting bridge on it’s own. Neither however could the Mozambique Company, the British owned for profit entity that was incorporated to develop the area. Yet this bridge is all over their stamps.

Todays stamp is issue A52, a 5 Escudo stamp issued by the Mozambique Company on May 16th,1937 for use in their region of the Portuguese Colony of Mozambique. It was part of a 19 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.50 unused.

Portugal was not a rich country. It did not have resources to invest in all the colonies that had been provided to them by the voyages of Vasco de Gamma. Mozambique on the southern east coast of Southern Africa was such a place. The Mozambique Company was formed in Portugal with mainly British investors to develop the area around the new city of Beira in 1891. The company had the right to tax and was to develop the area and provide services and security to the area. The city was the nearest coastline to the landlocked British colony of Rhodesia and a train line, including this bridge over the Zambezi River was a joint Portuguese and British project with the bridge completing in 1934. It was hoped that the user fees would pay the interest on the loan to build the bridge while also funding a sinking fund to pay off loan principal. The fees were too low to even pay the interest and the loan defaulted. Indeed the whole area suffered from lack of development and the administration contract for the colony was not renewed although the company continued operating certain operations and plantations.

The bridge, now called the Dona Ana Bridge, has gone through many rough periods since. It was heavily damaged during the post independence civil war. In the 1990s it was restored by USA aid but no longer as a railroad bridge but as a foot and light vehicle bridge. It was heavily damaged again in floods in 2000. In 2011 the Mozambique government had plans to reintroduce a railway to the bridge but those plans came to naught and a further renovation in 2017 allowed it to continue as a footbridge.

The Mozambique company still exists, sort of. In the 1950s, the company built an art deco Grande Hotel in Beira. It was again hoped to attract white Rhodesians to drive in for a beach vacation. Again the project never made money and closed in 1965, though the pool was still used and the ballroom available for weddings. After independence, the large concrete shell of the hotel was taken over by thousands of homeless people despite no longer having electricity or water. The communist and later governments never nationalized the property as they then would have had to take responsibility for demolition and relocation of the homeless. The deadlock has now continued for 45 years.

The Grande Hotel in Beira, another failure brought to you by the Mozambique Company

Well my drink is empty and I am wondering if this is one of those places that Vasco de Gamma should have just sailed past. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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Straits Settlements 1912, Trying to keep Singapore British, when the people are Chinese, Malay, and Indian

Singapore is today a prosperous, multiracial trading city with very few British. This was true right from the beginning, when it was founded by the British. Showing how important a one percent can be. 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.

A British colonial stamp with the King, in this case George V, a denomination, and the particular colonies name. These stamps were standard designs printed by De La Rue in Great Britain with a place on the stamp set aside for the colonies name. They almost always had the British Monarch, showing that they were mainly for the use of the British one percent. Now an important reminder of how such a place started.

The stamp today is issue A24, a 5 cent stamp issued by the Crown Colony of the Straits Settlements in 1912. It was a 19 stamp issue in various denominations with the high ones mainly to pay taxes and the lower values for postage. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.10 used.

The settlement at Singapore, that was the crown jewel of the Straits Settlements, was founded by Stanford Raffles in 1819 at the tip of the Malay peninsula. Tribute was paid and protection promised to the local Malayans. He was in the employ of the British East India Company and the area was a division of the then Presidency of Bengal. The area was divided between the British in Malaysia and Northern Borneo and the Dutch to the south. At the time the British East India Company had a monopoly on the China trade and the Singapore trading station was central to that. From the earliest days, Chinese flooded in seeking a better life. They were over 90 percent male, China did not allow females to emigrate legally. The hope was to make it big and go back to China but most ended up staying and heavily involved with Tong Societies for female companionship and other illicit comforts. Indians also flooded in, but many were there as prisoners. It was a fairly volatile mix with only one percent of the colony British.

The colony grew rapidly but was garrisoned mostly by units of the British Indian Army. After an Indian mutiny in 1867 spread to Singapore, the area petitioned to the British parliament to become a formal British colony. The currency was changed from the official Rupee to a dollar tied to the value of the Spanish dollar that was already the currency of commerce. The British kept the ethnicities in separate neighborhoods and tried to ban the Chinese Tongs to get a handle on the worst of the Chinese coolie trade and the rampant sex trafficking. This was less than successful but the city was still growing fast.

It still had the problem of being manly garrisoned by Indians. A local volunteer force was tiny and only one third coming from the majority Chinese population. The Indians mutinied again in 1916 and were put down. When the Japanese invaded Malaya in 1941 the British commanded forces greatly outnumbered the Japanese. Most of the troops were Indians who for the most part did not fight. The same was true of the local volunteer forces. The few British and Australians were relying greatly on their Navy and Air Force but the Japanese Air Force sank several British ships and shot down most of their airplanes. Churchill ordered Singapore defended till the end but while the final perimeter in Singapore was holding there was not enough food and water to feed the vast mostly Chinese population that was present, mostly male but taking no part of the defense. The local British General surrendered citing their welfare and Churchill described the fall as Britain’s greatest military calamity. The horrid treatment of British prisoners meant many still paid with their lives for Singapore after surrender. Asian captives were given the opportunity to serve Japan.

After the war the Straits Settlements Colony was disbanded with Singapore becoming it’s own colony. With little loyalty to Britain or Malaya, self government was allowed. Independence saw the new Malaysia attempt to claim Singapore but it broke away a year later. Many of the structures of the British were retained and the place as never stopped growing. Today the still majority Chinese country has a GNP per capita 40% higher than Great Britain. It is over 6 times that of China, 5 times that of Malaysia, and 30 times that of India. This year is the bicentennial of the founding of Singapore by Stanford Raffles. We will see if his memory receives it’s due.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the one percent of Singapore that made possible the great success of the other 99 percent. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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Peru 1936, the latifundistas prevent a shining path to the future

Peru, like so many other Latin American countries still had a feudal style society well into the twentieth century. With the growth of national universities, there came a batch of new leaders, the connected’s children in reality, that sought to speak for the mass of indigenous and overturn the applecart. In Peru, this urge was defeated. 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 top of the feudalist system have things very well. Put in place under colonial times, but then feeling disconnected and even taken advantage of by their distant mother country. The elite elect to break free and go it alone. If you look at the stamps of the Peru of the time all you see is colonial architecture and people serving in puissant armies dressed with more flash than any Nazi. It is no wonder that the new generations chafed in the grandiosity that so lacked achievement.

Todays stamp is issue A 15 Centimos stamp issued by the republic of Peru in 1936. It displays the Avenue of the Republic, a grand boulevard laid out before the republic in colonial era Lima. It was part of an 18 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents used.

What to do with the sons after the first is always an issue in feudal societies. The first son will inherit the estate that cannot be divided and daughters are useful to marry off for gain. The traditional answer was the Church or the army for the superfluous sons. Latin America after independence had chosen to subdivide into many weak nation states. Part of being a nation state was having a new university in the capital. The education combined with a precarious career track is why often the university becomes a hotbed of activism for change from these resentful, superfluous sons.

Peru was incredibly unstable. During 1931, there were 5 Presidents. There were deadly rivalries but all the leaders came from the large landowner class, the latifundistas. Outside looking in were the products of the University of Peru. These people had developed ideas of bringing in socialism that would raise the status of the masses of peasants whose toil supported the current system. This support for the lower classes was mainly theoretical, the movements being controlled by those with much more Spanish blood than found in the mass of peasants.

The left wing movement coming out of the university had two perhaps unlikely leaders. who as with Peruvian tradition were initially allies then later bitter rivals. Victor Haya de la Torre was a homosexual leftist who tried to expand the University to offer more opportunities to peasants  and then used his notoriety to form  a populist political party. Jose Mariategui was more a docturnal communist  that traveled extensively in Italy and Austria making connections to local fellow political travelers. He was more the intellectual and his works tried to show a new “shining path to Peru’s future.” This future was communist, but he insisted not based on European models but based on Peruvian indigenous traditions. That must have been why he spent so much time in Europe. He was not a politician from central casting. He was quite short and handicapped by a amputated leg.

Jose Mariategui

Peru was a republic in theory and as such there were elections from time to time. Usually there was no clear winner, with more room for intrigue. The movements started by the would be politicians above sometimes even won the elections. That does not mean that they were allowed to serve. There was always jail and exile, something both leaders did have experience with. The feudal system was not going to yield without a fight. In 1979, Haya de la Torre was actually allowed to take office as President after 6 decades in politics. By then he was on his deathbed but he had time to sign a new constitution, that did not do much for the economy but at least got the army out of the government.

Victor Haya de la Torre late in life

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the indigenous peasant class in Peru. Perhaps at some point someone will inquire as to their thoughts on how the country is to be governed. Crazy talk, I know. Come again for another story to be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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New Guinea 1932, when Australia needed New Guinea like a city needs water and the fuzzy wuzzy angels could be relied upon

Colonial fever was still hot at the turn of the twentieth century. Sometimes it takes a deadly military campaign to realize some places are better left alone. 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 features a bird of paradise that is native to the tropical island. Still a common vision on todays successor Papua stamps. The bloody price paid by outsiders for the presence on New Guinea means that the draw is no longer as great.

Todays stamp is issue A32, a 3 Penny stamp issued by the territory of New Guinea in 1932 while the area was under a League of Nations mandate to Australia. It was part of a 15 stamp issue in various denominations issued over many years. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.25 used.

The northeastern part of the island of New Guinea was first colonized by the Germans. This caused some consternation in the then still British colonies on Australia. They were concerned about the sea trade lanes and just the presence of a potentially hostile  power. In fact the colony of Queensland tried to formally annex German New Guinea. This was quickly resinded by the British foreign office who had no interest in the expense of starting a colony and no wish to comfront Germany. Germany formed a private company to exploit  the territory and tried to set up rubber plantations. This did not go well as without slavery it was nearly impossible to get Guineans to work. The Germans tried to demand labor in order to pay taxes that required cash to pay but results were poor and rebellions frequent. Chinese or Indians were not brought in as would have happened in a British colony. At the beginning of World War I, Australian troops landed and got rid of the Germans with hardly a fight.

Post war, the Australians strongly argued for continued presence in New Guinea as an outside Australia line of defense. Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes said that strategically the northern island encompass Australia like fortresses and are as necessary to Australia as is water to a city. The League of Nations awarded the mandate to Australia in 1921. At this point it was administered separately from Papua to the south.

The fortress aspect came true during World War II.  The Japanese landed and were able to establish a foot hold at Rabaul the capital but the Australians were able to hold on to Port Moresby to the south. From Rabaul, Japan was able to bomb Darwin and if they possessed larger bombers more of Australia would have been subject to bombing. What followed was a bloody three year campaign to dislodge the Japanese and caused the death of 7000 Australian soldiers, 7000 Americans and 30,000 Japanese. The Guineans/Papuans themselves played no part in the fighting although Australians made propaganda of Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels that assisted Australians and allowed them to imply they had native support. No doubt Imperial Japan would never imply they require the services of Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels or Devils for that matter.

A wounded Australian soldier being assisted a New Guinean native, a Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel in 1942

After the war came a new UN mandate and new joint administration with Papua. The expense of fortresses on New Guinea was deemed too expensive and Australias forward defense post war would be handled by long range bombers, aircraft carriers and the ANZUS alliance. Papua New Guinea was set on course to independence which was achieved in the 1970s. The Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels are no longer considered so angelic as they have soaked up much Australian foreign aid that was mostly squandered.

Well my drink is empty and I may have a few more while I consider the plight of New Guinea. Another place where the colonizers should have left well enough alone. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.