French Equatorial Africa stamp

Logging was big business in the Congo River Basin. In the race for the hoped for windfall, an Italian and a Senegalese in the service of France clash with H. M. Stanley the Englishman in the personal service of the Belgian King. The clash wasn’t with pistols or fists but rather romancing chiefs and message schemes. 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 logging in the area had suffered from a black eye that this stamp tried to put a better face on. So we have a strong African working hard alone moving logs down a river in the shadow of a majestic French built viaduct. Adventure, danger, profits, and achievement all laid out. Inspiring no? Well on the no side was the Catholic Church, who had sent a team to access what was going on in the post slavery Congo River Basin and then reported back to the French Parliament of the brutality of the operations to African natives. Party Poopers. The French suppressed the report.

Todays stamp is issue A1, a two Centimes stamp issued by French Equatorial Africa in 1937. It was a 40 stamp issue in different denominations that lasted many years but was originally issued for the Paris International Exhibition. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused. A Libre overstamp from when the colony went into Free French hands in 1941 is worth $4.00.

The interior territory of the Congo River basin was rich with logging possibilities with many small river that lead to the sea and export. Portugal had old claims in the area but for the most part Africans were left to themselves. However H.M. Stanley had been employed by Belgian King Leopold to make a productive colony, see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/10/07/great-britain-1973-remembering-henry-stanley/ .France countered with Pierre de Brazza an explorer trained in France but really an Italian from the then French affiliated Papal States.

de Brazza’s expedition relied heavily on mixed Moor/Berber Senegalese Sargant Malamine Camara who quickly picked up the local dialects. His being black also made it easier to deal with the African chiefs encountered. The de Brazza expedition came south from Gabon by river and made deals putting African tribes under the “protection” of France. His deal with the Batekes tribe as a big blow to H.M. Stanley and a French trading post was established taking the name Brazzaville. Far to close to Leopoldsville in the Belgian area. Stanley had a plan though.

After de Brazza returned to France to take his victory dance, Stanley pounced. De Brazza had left Camara behind to deal with Africans and protect the prize. H. M. Stanley had a fake messenger send a message in French ordering Camara back to Gabon on urgent business. He left immediately even though he claimed later to smell a rat. de Brazza had to mount a second expedition again including Camara who was welcomed by the Africans back in Brazzaville.

I did a stamp on nearby logging in Gabon here, https://the-philatelist.com/2019/06/27/french-equitorial-africa-1936-getting-gabon-interested-in-forestry/ . In the Congo it as been less successful post independence. The concessions to foreign owned operations were voided at the suggestion of NGOs and now the logs stay local. Unfortunately that does not mean trees are not being cut. They are rapidly now being cut in an unsustainable way to provide heat for cooking. Electricity is still more a future goal than a tapable grid in the Congo.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the professional lumberjack. Hard dangerous work, but done professionally and sustainably everyone can benefit. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

Trying to make a far off colony break even economically was always a challenge. Slash and burn pillaging winds down quickly and there is always more that needs doing for your new subjects. Luckily sustainable operations are sometimes put in place by Frenchmen with enough of an adventurous spirit to see the possibilities. 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 mentioned the challenge of making a colony work economically. This can be seen in the overprints on this stamp. France was again trying to combine Congo, Gabon, Chad, and the Central African Republics area into one colony out of Brazzaville to save money. It didn’t work and the areas were separated again pre independence. It is worth noting that there has not been a coming together afterwards either. Tribes do not always get along and it was not always the fault of the French.

Todays stamp is issue A16, a 1936 overprint for French Equatorial Africa on a Gabon 1 Centime issue from 1932. The stamp shows a raft hauling lumber to market on the Ogowe, now Ogboue, River. The overprint was a 10 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents unused.

The first forestry was set up by the French in 1892. Over 70% of Gabon’s land is covered with forests. Operations got a lot more serious in 1913 when the Gabon wood Okounne was introduced by the French on to the world market. Luckily for Gabon the operations were set up to be sustainable. Okounne is a soft wood that is much prone to decay but its weakness makes it suitable as a component of plywood, another innovation that made forestry more sustainable. These days it is often sprayed with plastic to hold off rotting.

Since independence Gabon has struck oil and that has been the main economic driver. That was not the end of forestry. Gabon has stayed uniquely close to France see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/04/11/gabon-1910-the-french-like-the-fang-but-wish-they-would-lay-off-the-psychedelic-bark/ . Over 50 firms, most foreign have been granted concessions to keep forestry going in Gabon. The wood provides over 300 million dollars a year in export revenue. I am not sure you would still see a lumber raft as on the stamp. The river flows parallel to a newer Trans-Gabon railway built post independence with oil and forestry! money.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the early foresters of French Equatorial Africa. It would have been so much easier to just denude Gabon of it’s forest. Instead the hard work of sustainability has kept the dividends coming for over a century. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.