Tag: Portugal stamp

Categories
Uncategorized

A poor Portugal rents out a colony to British big business

In the late 19th century, Portugal did not have the resources to develop all the territory they controlled. So in a few instances, areas were rented out to British businesses. 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 is from a Portuguese colony that existed in present day Mozambique. It is more complicated than that. The colony was leased out to a British company in the hopes that they would have the resources to develop the place. One of the ways they hoped to make money was the issuance of postage stamps that were legal for postage in the colony but mainly existed for stamp collectors. As such we are treated to well colored pictures of exotic animals to whet the collector’s appetite. One issue is that the stamp shows a camel, and camels do not get that far south in Africa. Remember though it was a British company dealing with Portuguese printers, so a little confusion about what exotic animals to display is understandable. The was a separate British colony nearby called Nyasaland. It is now known as Malawi.

The stamp today is A6, a 75 reis stamp issued by the Niassa company in 1901. It features camels and the Portuguese monarch. It was part of a thirteen stamp issue in various denominations. The issue continued for over 20 years with various surcharges and the transition of Portugal to a republic. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.75 mint. There are fakes and inverted pictures with this issue, although I am sure the catalog struggled where to draw the line at what point this issue is fake.

The Niassa Company was formed to acquire the concession of the territory in Portuguese Africa. It was formed in Portugal but the ownership was British. The hope was to develop cotton plantations that could be lucrative. The Portuguese set out standards of development but they were not achieved. The business plan of the company was that over 10 percent of the revenue was to be from the issuance of postage stamps.

The cotton plantations did not go well. By taking the best farm land away from food production meant that there was less food for the community. The company also passed property taxes that required much labor to satisfy. This system was called chibalo. As such it was a short step away from slavery.

The concession ran 30 years till 1929 when the Portuguese refused to renew the arrangement. The company dissolved and Portugal appointed a  colonial governor, Theodorico de Sacadura. He worked hard for many years to end the system of chibalo and other methods of exploiting the local tribes. Even after independence,  Sacadura was allowed to stay on in Mozambique as most Portuguese were forced to leave. This was out of respect for him and the work he had done as colonial governor. He died in 1987 having completed 2 books that gave some of the best accounts of the late colonial period in Mozambique.

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

Categories
Uncategorized

A trading post in the land of good people, what could go wrong

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelists. 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. Today we wrestle with when a trading post stops benefiting everybody.

The stamp is an issue of Portuguese Africa. The individual colony, in this case Inhambane, is then printed on. Then there is a further overprint which announces republica. In 1910 A republic was declared in Portugal. Then an overprint of a new currency from 1913. The strange part of this is that the underlying stamp celebrates an anniversary from 1898. The post office in Inhambane must have had slow sales to be still pushing the same stamp 15 years after the original issue. Inhambane is located in present day Mozambique which did something similar. In 1975, independence was declared and the new post office sold issues of the colony dating back to 1953 with a new overprint celebrating the independent republic. Perhaps they were new printings but I suspect the post office just had a huge, old inventory.

The stamp today is issue CD25, a seven and one half centavo overprint for Inhambane in 1913 of a Portuguese Africa stamp from 1898.  The original denomination of the stamp was 75 Reis, the earlier currency. The stamp celebrates the 400th anniversary of the voyage of the explorer Vasco de Gama. This was part of an eight stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $2.00 mint. The stamp to look for in the set is the one with the inverted overprint of the new denomination. It is worth $35. There are also versions or this issue with the Inhambane overprint on stamps of Macao and Timor. other Portuguese colonies that got the Vasco de Gama issue.

Inhambane was discovered by Vasco de Gamma in 1498 as it says on the stamp. de Gama landed seeking supplies and labeled the area a “Land of good people.” This catch phrase is still used for the area today. It was already an active trading post with Arab and Persian traders arriving in the 11th century. Trade routes had developed from the interior routing ivory, gold and slaves to the trading post. For the most part the traders, including the Portuguese did not venture much in to the interior. Instead tribute was paid to local chiefs.  Over time, many of the traders were ethnic Indians and Chinese from the Asian Portuguese colonies. Portugal did not feel the need to formalize the colony of Mozambique with protected borders until Britain occupied neighboring Rhodesia. By then the present day capital/port of Maputo had greater economic and administrative importance. The last Inhambane stamp was from 1917 although the city and province retain the name today.

In theory the idea of these sort of international cities/trading posts make a lot of sense. Trading after all benefits all and allows the interior lands to be left to there own to develop in their own way. In old movies such places seem such romantic oasis’s of spies, quick money, and intrigue. To look at the list of what was traded requires one to give additional thought.  Some of this is just modern eyes looking back criticaly, but the trade going on would seem to dirty many hands.

Well my drink is empty and so it is time to open the conversation in the below comment section. Often the incorporation of trading post cities in to the surrounding country leads to their decline. This is the case with present day Inhambane. Should they have been kept international? Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

Categories
Uncategorized

Remember the divine duty of Empire

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. 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. We have an interesting story to tell of trying to hold on to an empire, and using a stamp to remind and convince of the divine duty inherent.

The stamp today is from Portugal. While the country is heavily Catholic, in the twentieth century there was a back and forth, with right of center governments revering the Church, and left of center governments persecuting the Church. One can easily see which period this is from with Saint Francis Xavier bathed in a warm glow and holding the Cross high over young boys.

The stamp today is issue A182, an one escudo stamp issued on December 23rd, 1952. The stamp displays Saint Francis Xavier. It is part of a four stamp issue in various denominations honoring the 400th anniversary of the death of Saint Francis Xavier. According to the Scott catalog, it is worth 25 cents cancelled.

Saint Francis Xavier was one of the founders of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits. The King of Portugal had been worried about a collapse in the practice of Christianity among the Portuguese sent to the new colony of Goa in India. The Portuguese sent were mainly out of favor nobles and those from the lower classes. Many had taken up with local women and gone native. The King wrote to the Pope and requested missionaries be sent to the colonies to keep up the Christian faith among the colonists. Francis Xavier took up this challenge and preached the gospel far and wide in Portugal’s numerous outposts in Asia. It is said that Francis Xavier personally converted 30,000 people to Christianity from India to Japan. He went beyond colonists and attempted also to convert the native populations. His number of conversions was second only to the Apostle Paul and he was made a Saint posthumously.

This long ago history must have seemed very relevant to the right wing government of Portugal of the early fifties when this stamp was issued. Portugal was resisting the world wide trend of decolonizing and attempting to hold on to the remaining empire in Africa and Asia. This required expensive military deployments and conscription into the military. This was a big bone of contention with many young men emigrating from Portugal to avoid service. Once out of the country they were forming left wing political groups that were banned at home in Portugal. The Portuguese economy was growing though and there was the prospect of much oil wealth when the reserves in the colony of Angola were developed. The Portuguese Prime Minister Salazar also still believed it was the duty of the Portuguese to civilize and Chistianise  the native peoples of the colony. It does sound old fashioned and probably did in 1952 as well. It does explain this stamp and allows us to look at an earlier style of reverence so common in an earlier period of art but now almost entirely in the past.

The colonies were soon lost. The Indian army used force to take Goa in India in 1961. In 1974, there was a carnation coup by young left wing officers in Portugal that lead to immediate independence for Portugal’s African colonies and the formation of People’s Republics. A million Portuguese had to immediately return to Portugal where many found themselves destitute. Stability in Portugal was also undermined.

Well my drink is empty and so it is time to open up the conversation in the below comment section. Would it really have been possible to hold on to the colonies and allow the territories to develop gradually in a Christian environment? Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.