Guinea Bissou stamp – The-Philatelist

Why did European countries try to hold on to colonies when the original reason for being there had passed and the involvement is a burden for all involved? Let us consider. So slip in 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 sets The Philatelist record for how many ways Portugal showed that they did not care about Guinea through the stamp issue. Notice that Guinea is just overprinted on a stamp of Macau, another Portuguese country on the other side of the world. Next notice that is the Vasco da Gama 400th anniversary issue from 1898. This version is from 15 years later. Next notice that Portugal’s form of government and currency had changed. Both great reasons for a new stamp issue but instead handled with overprints. Grade F for effort.

Todays stamp is issue CD26, a 10 Centavo on 16 Ries stamp overprinted for the colony of Portuguese Guinea in 1913 on a stamp intended for Macau. The colony also used the same stamp but intended for Portuguese Africa and Timor. There were eight different denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.60 whether mint or used.

The Portuguese first arrived in Guinea in 1452. There was not much land area onshore controlled by Portugal just the trading post at Bassau and a few close offshore islands. The name Guinea is from the Portuguese for black people. The trading was mainly in slaves. There was a hope that some of the gold that came from the interior might pass through Bissau but most stayed in Ghana, then the Gold Coast.

After the end of the slave trade, Portugal sold the rights to economically develop /exploit Guinea to foreign firms. The area did not prove attractive to white colonists. Crops of peanuts and palm oil were exported in small amounts but not in quantities enough to be profitable. The population was growing fast and rice for food was an important crop. Again with this, productivity was quite low and the colony always had large trade deficits.

The colony brought with it a duty to civilize. Starting in 1913, the colonial administration began classifying local African as assimilated or unassimilated. To be assimilated one had to speak Portuguese, be baptized Catholic, and live in the manner of a westerner. Fewer than 10 percent of the Africans qualified. Getting certified Assimilado meant that there was better ability to get jobs and educational opportunities. The Portuguese claimed to hope that the Assimilados would inspire their fellow blacks to join them as sort of junior Portuguese citizens.

Instead the Assimilados lead the independence movement against Portugal. As the ones that inherited the colony after Portugal departed in 1974, they must take responsibility for the lack of progress since. The Assimilados are only a small minority and still live as colonial masters used to, except ever more degraded. As such they are more a connection to the past than the way forward for the bulk of the people who never assimilated. The junior Portuguese citizens proved to be something less than inspiration.

Well my drink is empty and I will open the discussion in the below comment section. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

Cape Verde was thrust into independence after the carnation revolution in Portugal. There had been no organized independence movement. That was okay, nearby Portuguese Guinea was chock full of an organized independence movement, mainly staffed by imigrants from Cape Verde. Until now independent Guinea Bissou noticed it was being run by Cape Verdeans. 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 a small cargo ship, the Boavista, that is flagged to the merchant ship fleet of Cape Verde. At the time of this stamp the ship was less than 10 years old and so definitely useful to an archepeligo of many islands. The ship still exists, still in Cape Verde, but no longer leaves port.

Todays stamp is issue A49 a 9 Escudo stamp issued by Cape Verde on November 30th, 1980. It was part of a six stamp isue in various denominations the displayed the ships of Cape Verde. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 75 cents cancelled to order.

Cape Verde had a few prosperous periods under Portuguese rule but it never lasted. First were the sugar cane plantations founded by many Portuguese Jewish expatriots that were no longer welcome in Portugal at the time of the inquisition. This brought in many west African slaves. As with so many other places, whatever prosperity ended with the end of the slave trade in 1867. Portugal tried without much luck to get the former slaves to move to other Portuguese African colonies to continue plantation work. The location of Cape Verde in the Atlantic sea lanes made it a useful coal refueling stop for mainly British ships. This brought dockwork jobs but also soon ended. What didn’t end were the frequent drought conditions on the desert islands with the resulting famines.

Cape Verdeans were treated better than nearby Bissau. Literacy was at 25% compared with 5% in Bissau. Cape Verdians often then took some of the better jobs open to blacks. One of these was telegraph operator Aristides Pereira. Him and other Cape Verdans became central to the independence movement. The movement started peacefully with strikes but soon got violent and the leaders like Pereira lead the armed stuggle from exile in Conarcky , former French Guinea. Cape Verde remained quiet. Portugal had to maintain an army of 30,000 in desperately poor Bissau to maintain control. This would be 80% of Portugal’s army today. Young left wing officers of the Portuguese Army overthrew the elected government of Portugal in the Carnation Revolution in 1974 and quickly granted African colonies like Bissau and Cape Verde independence. With no independence movement Bissau resident Pereira became President at age 52. He hadn’t lived in Cape Verde since he was 23. Bissau now independent, also had a Cape Verdean expatriate as President.

Both were left wing and both intended at some point for the two countries to join. Native Cape Verdeans were lighter colored reflecting their more mixed heritage. This soon became a problem in Bissau as the people wondered how there could be one party rule when all the higher ups were of lighter skin. In 1981 there was a coup where the Cape Verdeans were removed from power. Suddenly Pereira would be going it alone as President on Cape Verde. What else could he do, there was no longer any need for telegraph operators in Bissau. Eventually the international community forced multi party elections and the opposition won. They had no success either and the next election was decided by 12 votes. Better not add the option of none of the above. The famines are at least over as both Cape Verde and Bissau are totally dependant on world food aid. The main export is the people, with 500,000 in the USA, 150,000 in Portugal. and 30,000 in Holland. The islands themselves still contain 500,000. Unless they can get the Boavista back to sea?

Well my drink is empty so I will await tomorrow when there will be a new story that can be learned from stamp collecting.