Postal history and postage stamps of Madagascar
The postal history of Madagascar can be roughly divided into three sections: the post in the independent Merina Kingdom , which dates back to 1810 when the first runners' relay was established between the main cities of the kingdom, the postal service during French colonial rule, and the post since Independence 1960. At the time of the French colonial rule , the Madagascar postal area was not congruent with today's state of Madagascar . For a time, the Comoros and the territory of today's French Southern and Antarctic Territories belonged to the Madagascar postal area.
The first stamps were used on Nossi-Be at the French post office in Hell-Ville in 1859 . The use of temporary imprints runs like a red thread through Malagasy postal history up to the present day. On the one hand, this was and is a consequence of a brand deficiency, especially the common postage levels, and on the other hand, the postal authorities tried to make no longer valid or unusable postage levels usable again with new value imprints and to use them up.
The post in the Merina Kingdom
The first regular postal service was established in 1810 under the rule of King Radama I. These were mail runners who maintained the connection between the court in Tananarive and the officials in the big cities or armies in the field. For example, there were 33 relay stations between Tananarive and Fianarantsoa and runners covered the 400 km route in 65 hours. This system of mail runners had predecessors, especially in the small principalities along the east coast, but it was the first postal service that was also open to the civilian population to a limited extent.
This post runners were in Malagasy Tsimandoa called. A spear -bearer called a mirebika accompanied them on the way for protection and as an honor guard.
The British consular mail
The British consulate in Tananarive set up a postal service in March 1884, for which its own stamps were printed. The first stamp series consisted of eight values from one penny to two shillings. The stamps were printed in a block of four in Tananarive and had a purple or black checkmark British Vice Consulate Antananarivo or British Consular Mail before they were sold . A second edition with a different design appeared in 1886. The cancellation was done by hand with colored pencils or purple ink. The postal service was a purely domestic mail service with a route from the capital to the port of Tamatave and another route to Fianarantsoa and from there to the east coast to Mananjary . For onward transport abroad, mail with postage stamps from Mauritius , Natal or Great Britain had to be prepaid.
The British postal service came to a standstill in 1887 but was reactivated during the Second Franco-Hova War of 1894–95. For this purpose, the British consulate and British businessmen had seven values from 1 penny to 4 shillings printed in Tananarive at the beginning of January 1895. The stamps are simple vertical rectangles with a diamond in the center and the inscription British Inland Mail . In addition to the value in British currency, the inscription on the right edge also shows the value in local currency. Specialists distinguish six types of each value. Complete printed sheets consist of 24 stamps, with the six types printed in four groups on one sheet. The two upper groups of six are upside down in relation to the two lower groups. These stamps were in use until early March 1895 when they were superseded by a new edition printed by John Haddon & Co. in London . This new edition has six denominations from 2 pence to 4 shillings, all of which show the same motif of a tsimandoa accompanied by a mirebika . These postage stamps were hardly used anymore due to the advancing French occupation and went out of circulation at the end of September 1895.
British Consulate Post postage stamp, 1884 issue
British Consulate Post postage stamp, 1886 issue
British Inland Mail stamp of 1895
The French consulate mail
The first French post office was opened in 1883 in the port of Tamatave , which was regularly called by the mail steamer line Marseille - Réunion . The post office used the stamps from the general colonial issue. After the post office was closed in the first Franco-Hova War in 1886, it was reopened two years later and again issued with stamps from the general French colonial edition. In the meantime, however, the former mail steamer agency had been upgraded to a consulate.
The French resident opened a postal service on the island in 1888, comparable to the British postal service that had existed a few years earlier. The domestic tariff was 5 centimes , the postage from Madagascar to France and to the French colonial empire was 25 centimes for the first weight level up to 15 g. Since the stamps were not available in sufficient quantities in the postage categories mentioned, temporary overprint arrangements were created on the existing, little-needed value stages of the general colonial postage stamps in France. The numbers 05 and 25 were overprinted with primitive wooden stamps that only had individual numbers. The distance between the digits is therefore variable. The stamps were used in Tamatave, Tananarive and Majunga and are listed in all catalogs as the first stamps from Madagascar. In addition to the temporary imprints mentioned, stamps from the French colonial edition with a value of up to 1 franc were still used. In 1889, the French post offices sold postage stamps worth 17,824.25 francs. By April 1891, a total of seven different overprint stamps had been issued with editions of 1200 to 12,500 copies, of which only a small part remained in collections.
On June 29, 1891, a series specially printed for the French consular mail, consisting of six values from 5 centimes to 5 francs, came to the post office counter, which collectors refer to as "vignettes". They were made in Tamatave using the letterpress process and show simple vertical rectangles with decorative frames and the inscription POSTES FRANÇAISES / MADAGASCAR and the respective value. The editions vary between 30,000 (25 centimes) and 1,000 (5 francs) copies. The consular mail service came to a standstill during the Second Franco-Hova War from the end of 1894. By this time, a postal network had been set up between the places Tamatave, Tananarive, Majunga, Anivorano , Mahanoro , Nossi-Vey and Vohémar .
The Norwegian missionary mail
The stamps of the Norwegian missionaries in Madagascar are little known, as they are not listed in most postage stamp catalogs. The Norwegian Mission had ten mission stations scattered across the country. In September 1894 the mission station in Tananarive printed simple vertical rectangles with a decorative frame, the abbreviation NMS's (Norske Mission S'selskab), the value and the word post on the lower edge. The stamps were printed in black on white paper in four denominations in British currency , with all denominations combined on one sheet. The top row consists of three stamps of a third penny, the bottom row of three stamps of one penny each and in the middle a stamp in natural currency, corresponding to one fifth of a penny (5 vary dimy venty) and two stamps with values in natural currency each two fifths of a penny (1 eranambatry 5 vary dimy venty). Of the complete sheets that were sold for five pence, only one is known today. The stamps were canceled by means of a "pen pull". The postal service ceased in 1897.
The post office in the French colonies until 1895
Nossi-Bé
The island had been part of the French colonial empire since 1841 and was settled in the mid-19th century by a small group of French planters who grew sugar cane and spices. In Hell-Ville, the capital of Nossi-Bé, the first post office on what is now Madagascar was opened in 1859. First French postage stamps were used, which were canceled with a dot diamond stamp with the letters NSB in the middle . From 1864 the stamps of the general colonial edition with the imperial eagle came into use there. In 1889 Nossi-Bé received its first own brands. These are temporary imprints of the value levels 5, 15 and 25 centimes on stamps of the general colonial issue. In June 1889 a second series appeared, which differs in that not only the value number, but in addition to the value number, a c for centimes was printed. In the following year another series was published with a value imprint and the letters NSB for Nossi-Bé. After two further provisional editions with a horizontal and an oblique overprint Nossi-Bé came up for sale in 1893, the Allegory edition was published in 1894, also known as the “Handel und Navigation” or Mouchon edition in collectors' circles . Nossi-Bé was annexed to Madagascar as a secondary area in 1901 and has used Madagascar's editions ever since.
Diego-Suarez
Diego-Suarez was ceded to France as a result of the first Franco-Hova War. The port city at the northern end of the island of Madagascar was developed into an important naval base and received the first post office in 1884. The stamps of the general colonial issue were used until 1890, after which stamps with local purple overprints 15 were initially issued . In the same year, the first series appeared in the lithographic process, which includes four values from 1 centime to 25 centimes and shows a ship and the heads of allegorical figures in profile. In 1892 a series appeared in the pattern Commerce and Navigation with the inscription DIEGO-SUAREZ ET DEPANDANCES , which was also used on Nossi-Be and Sainte Marie de Madagascar . The following year the inscription was changed to DIÉGO-SUAREZ and the postal areas were separated again. In 1898 Diégo-Suarez was incorporated into the Madagascar postal area.
Sainte-Marie de Madagascar
The small island of Sainte Marie de Madagascar was one of the oldest French possessions in what is now Madagascar. The island was temporarily administered by Mayotte, Reunion and Diégo-Suarez. The first post office opened on October 18, 1882, initially using the general French colonial edition and, in 1893, the Diégo-Suarez stamps. The island became an independent colony with its own postal system in 1894. Only a series of 13 values in the trading and navigation pattern was issued . As early as 1896, Sainte Marie was incorporated into the Madagascar postal area.
The conquest of Madagascar and the establishment of the protectorate
The Majunga makeshifts
At the beginning of 1895 the first units of the French expedition corps landed in Majunga. The existing consular post office there was equipped with normal French stamps by the paymaster of the troops. On February 24, the entire inventory of 15 centimes stamps was used up. The value applied to members of the military and was the reduced postage rate to France and the French colonial empire. In the course of February 25, the stock of 5 centimes stamps (500 copies) was also used up, so that the postage level for 15 centimes could no longer be sold together with a 10 centimes stamp. The demand was high, however, because a ship to France set off the following day. In this situation, the head of the post office, Monsieur Pellenq, decided to write on copies of the stamps for 25 centimes and 1 franc with 0.15 in red ink (red is the color for official inscriptions, stamps, etc. in France). Later someone brought three pairs of individual stamps with the digits 1 and 5, which enabled the new value to be stamped in black. In this way, 100 stamps of 15 centimes with inscription or imprint on the olive 1 franc stamp and 250 copies on the pink 25 centimes stamp were created. These temporary imprints belong to the greatest rarities of the Madagascar philately. Even after these stamps were sold, the demand for 15-centimes stamps was not met, so that on the evening of February 25th, 152 copies of the 25-centimes stamp at 15 centimes were sold. In order to report the shortfall in revenue from postage sales to his superiors, Pellenq wrote a letter that was countersigned by the chief of the landing battalion, Commandant Bélin, which made the circumstances that led to the emergence of the makeshift arrangements known. The stamps were not all pasted by the postal customers on February 25, apparently some military personnel stocked up on a small supply that was used up in the following weeks. Cancellations from February 28, March 7, 12 and March 28, 1895 are still known.
The expenses of the protectorate
In September 1895 French troops had captured Tananarive and France established a protectorate over the island; Queen Ranavalona III. formally remained head of state. The French postal service, which had been discontinued as a result of the war, was resumed, while the British post was discontinued.
In March 1896, the stocks of 5 c (domestic postage), 15 c (reduced postage to France and colonies for the military) and 25 c (normal postage to France and the colonies) were running out. As a result, temporary imprints of the most frequently used values were created locally at less common value levels of 1 c , 2 c, 3 c, 4 c and 40 c. The values have been created in black numerals in an oval and the abbreviation c for centimes with a small underscore. The editions are between 500 and 1000 copies per value. These stamps remained in use until April 1896, when the road situation after the rainy season made it possible to replenish new brands from the ports on the coast.
The new series, also a provisional solution from French brands with a three-line print POSTE FRANÇAISE Madagascar , had already arrived in Tamatave in February 1896.
Madagascar as a French colony
After just a year, the protectorate was turned into a colony, ostensibly because the queen was behind uprisings against French supremacy. In order to pacify Madagascar, strong troop units had to be stationed all over the country. The garrisons received small military post offices that were subordinate to the paymasters. The stamps placed on the market in 1896 were used as stamps in the trade and navigation pattern with the inscription MADAGASCAR ET DEPENDANCES . The approximately 50 military post offices used military cancellation stamps, forms, sticky notes, etc., the use of which was excluded when the civil postal administration was transferred. In the first few months of the transition, handwritten cancellations were common. In order to make the transition to civilian mail faster, the Madagascar postal administration ordered number stamps in France that had the common two-circle pattern. In the upper arc of the circle there was MADAGASCAR and at the bottom a number between 1 and 99. Only in cases where complete letters with addresses have been preserved can it be determined in which places the number stamps were used. The group stamps used in 1901/02 are very rare. The place names were removed from stamps that were not or no longer used except for two letters. These stamps were used in other post offices until place name stamps became available there. The letter groups AB (MAH AB O, use unknown) are known; RI (MAND RI TSARA, used in the post office of the Camp d'Ambre military base ); TS (MAHA TS ARA, probably used in Ambalavao) and NT (MORO NT SANGANA; this stamp comes from a post office closed in 1891 and was used in Sakaleona ).
The incorporation of the dependencies and the Comoros
Between 1896 (Sainte Marie) and 1911 (Comoros) the surrounding islands were incorporated into the postal area of Madagascar. In 1903 the colony received its first series of stamps that did not show a standard allegorical design for all French colonies. The series from 1 centime to 5 francs designed by Benjamin Damman and produced by the Wittmann printing house in France shows a ravenala and a zebu cattle . In contemporary philatelic literature, the series is heavily criticized for its unsuccessful proportions and has therefore not been reissued.
In March of this year, the first postal service by automobile was introduced in Tananarive. Until 1916, the post bus lines were extended to Ambalavao south of Fianarantsoa. Although there were sufficient stamp stocks in the capital at the beginning of 1904, delivery problems at the end of the rainy season resulted in a shortage of stamps in the towns along the east coast and in the north of the island. One made do by halving existing stamps, which were then stuck on letters and given another stamp, which explained the emergency measure due to the lack of stamps, e.g. B. Affranchissement exceptionnel (faute de timbres) . These emergency editions are known from Diégo-Suarez, Vohemar, Mananjary, Antalaha , Ambohibe and Mahela , with the text and font of the additional imprint differing slightly from one another. Some overprints are known only in two surviving copies. Some of the print runs are documented, mostly only a few hundred copies were made. However, when these emergency editions became known in the course of 1904, the local postal workers produced further "emergency editions" with no actual need and sold them to collectors at high prices. Collectors therefore only recognize items that are on letters with an arrival stamp as real necessities.
In 1908 the first Filanjana series appeared at the post office counters . It shows a European in tropical clothing, who is carried by the natives in a carrying chair, called filanjana in Malagasy , through a landscape of sisal plants . With the appearance of this series, which was printed in several editions, the era of temporary imprints did not end. After the Comoros had been incorporated into the Madagascar postal area, a large part of the considerable remaining stock of stamps from the individual Comoros islands of Grande Comore, Moheli , Anjouan and Mayotte was used up in 1912 with the most common postage rates of 5 and 10 centimes printed on Madagascar and the Comoros. Remaining stocks of stamps of this value class without value imprint were also sold again at the post office counters.
The emergency stamp money in the First World War
After the outbreak of World War I , the French National Assembly allowed the governors of the colonies to issue emergency money if necessary if they lacked funds. Madagascar made use of this from 1916 onwards, when a lack of coinage arose, which was exacerbated by the hoarding of silver coins from the prewar period. Governor General Hubert Garbit issued a decree on September 15, 1916, regulating the issue of postage stamp money. For this purpose, the values of 5 c, 10 c, 25 c, 50 c, 1 Fr. and 2 Fr. of the Filanjana series were glued to small gray cardboard boxes with the same value on the back in French and Malagasy and in the Showed a dog in the middle. This is why this emergency money was popularly known as vola alika (dog money). The denominations corresponded to the circulating French coin denominations. At the end of 1917, a new series with the same value was put into circulation, in which a zebu cattle was depicted instead of a dog, therefore this series was called vola omby (cattle money ). Even after the end of the war, there were not enough coins available from the motherland immediately, so on December 18, 1919 the amount of money in circulation as postage stamp money was increased to a maximum of 2.5 million francs. The postage stamp money remained the official means of payment until 1928, but was largely replaced by coins from 1922 due to its poor durability.
The development until 1941
From 1913 on, railway lines from Tamatave to Antananarivo and from 1936 from Manakara to Fianarantsoa, as well as lines from the capital to Antsirabe and from Moramanga to Lac Alaotra, were the main connections between the coast and the highlands. Rail cars with mail compartments have been used on these routes since the 1920s. The items dispatched by the railway post can be recognized by single-circle stamps based on the French model with two location details (start and end point of the line) and a wavy edge.
In 1919, a parcel tax of 10 centimes was introduced, which was payable when delivering domestic parcels or collecting parcels from abroad. Stamp stamps with the imprint Colis Postaux were used until the mid-1920s . These stamps are included in French stamp catalogs, but are missing in e.g. B. German catalogs. The payment of the package tax, which still exists today, has been acknowledged by fiscal stamps since the late 1920s.
The first airmail was carried between Tananarive and Majunga in 1927, but these were routes operated by the military with restricted transport of civilian mail. It was not until 1935 that a civil airmail network was established in Germany. The airmail connection abroad began in 1934 with the Tananarive-Paris connection, which was served by Imperial Airways . The Post needed eleven days on this route due to many stopovers.
In 1930 the Filanjana series was replaced by new designs, the so-called local types, i.e. H. Shows representatives of certain ethnic groups. These stamps were printed in sheets of 75 pieces, which were further divided into 3 counter sheets of 25 stamps each. Since then, the use of the 25-count switch has been almost always retained. In 1931 the first special stamps appeared on the occasion of the colonial exhibition in Paris. These special stamps had a uniform design for all colonies and differed only in the impression of the name of the respective colony. This system was also retained for the special stamps for the International Exhibition in Paris in 1937, the commemorative edition for Pierre and Marie Curie in 1938, the World Exhibition in New York in 1939 and the edition commemorating the 150th anniversary of the French Revolution in 1939.
In 1941 and 1942 the Vichy government issued some special postage stamps and airmail stamps, but these did not reach Madagascar and are only unused. However, since they were sold to the public at the post office counter in Paris , the catalogs list them as sold out.
Madagascar as part of "Free France"
After the surrender of the French army in 1940 and the establishment of the Vichy regime in France, Madagascar initially remained on the side of the État français ruled by Petain and did not join the free French movement de Gaulle . In May 1942 Commonwealth troops captured the port of Diégo-Suarez and by November 1942 the entire island was under Allied control (see Operation Ironclad ). The Commonwealth troops used Kenya postage stamps in October / November 1942 , the use of which in Madagascar can be recognized by the postmarks of Army Post Offices 54 and 59.
After the surrender of the troops loyal to Vichy, Madagascar was ruled by free French governors. In January and February 1943 in Tananarive, all stamp stocks still in stock were provided with the two-line print FRANCE LIBRE . A considerable part of the circulation was to be sold to stamp dealers in London in order to finance arms purchases for de Gaulle. The machine with the brand stocks crashed in Algiers , with the delivery being completely burned. This resulted in some great rarities, because the greater part of some overprint values had been sent to London. This applied to the 3 centimes value, of which 10,000 copies of 12,450 were destroyed in the plane crash, and above all to the maximum value of 20 francs from the 1930 series, of which only 625 copies remained in Madagascar. In addition, an old 5-franc value from the Filanjana edition was overprinted with 20 F., with the point after the abbreviation F missing once per printed sheet of 75 copies . Only 345 copies of this misprint remained in Madagascar. The misprint was sold in blocks of four (i.e. with three normal stamps of 20 F.) at a price of 300 francs and the value of 20 francs from the 1930 series at 100 francs in Tananarive. A maximum of four copies were handed in per person; the amount in excess of the postage went to a fund to support the armaments of de Gaulle's troops.
In 1943 a new series, designed by Edmond Dulac and printed by Harrison and Sons in London, was issued in a uniform design with a stylized Ravenala palm. This series remained in use until the end of the war. However, since the postal administration could not foresee how long the supplies of this series would last, in December 1944 they ordered the ten post offices with the highest mail volume (Tananarive RP, Tamatave, Majunga, Diégo-Suarez, Fianarantsoa, Tuléar , Fort-Dauphin , Morondava , Antsirabe and Mananjary) postage paid in cash. For this purpose, stamps were designed with the inscription MADAGASCAR ET DÉPENDANCES , the name of the post office and fields for the postage amount to be entered by hand in a box frame . Cash franking was only permitted for domestic mail, to France and the colonies; mail abroad continued to be franked with postage stamps. Cash franking was in use until March 9, 1946, from which date all stamps issued in Madagascar up to 1945 lost their validity.
From the end of the Second World War to the establishment of the Communauté Francaise
After the end of the war, a new series of stamps was delivered from France, designed by Jacques Douy as early as 1942. The design shows again different ethnic types and the highest values of important French officers in the colonial history of Madagascar. The series includes 19 values from 10 centimes to 25 francs. A curiosity is the value of 3.60 francs, such a postage rate did not exist and was not planned. The value owes its existence to the fact that the total face value is 100 Francs and complete sets could be sold to collectors for this even amount.
From 1946 a currency reform came into force with that of the Franc Malagasy , which was initially pegged to the French franc at a ratio of 1: 1.7 and from 1948 1: 2. Due to the fixed exchange rate, the Franc Malagasy was linked to the strong post-war inflation of the French Franc. The postage for a domestic letter of the first weight class rose from 1.50 francs in 1945 to 20 francs in 1959.
In 1934 France and Australia agreed to demarcate their areas of interest in Antarctica. France was assigned the narrow sector of the Terre Adélie , which was administered from Madagascar and thus belonged to the Malagasy postal area. This initially had no practical impact, but when a French expedition was supposed to explore the area from 1948 to 1952, the post office issued an airmail stamp for 100 francs with the red, three-line imprint TERRE ADÉLIE / DUMONT D'URVILLE / 1840 for the members of the expedition was intended, but was also sold at the collector's counter in Tananarive and was valid in Madagascar. The cataloging of this brand is inconsistent, in many catalogs this brand is listed as a forerunner of the issues for the Terres Australes et Antarctiques Françaises , the Michel catalog lists it as an issue of Madagascar.
In 1950 the Comoros postal area was separated from Madagascar and in 1955 the Terres Australes et Antarctiques Françaises received their own stamps.
In 1958 Madagascar became an autonomous republic in the Communauté française . The stamps that appeared from this point on no longer bear the inscription "Madagascar", but "Republique Malgache".
Madagascar since independence
The first republic
The first edition of the new republic features a portrait of President Philibert Tsiranana and was issued on July 29, 1960. The issue consists of two values, a normal stamp for 20 francs and a stamp with a blue print with a surcharge of 10 francs in favor of the independence celebrations. The poorly trained local post office workers, especially in the rural post offices, apparently did not understand the meaning of the imprint, as a result of which a large part of the surcharge stamps were sold for only 20 francs, which meant that the intended additional income was partly lost.
On the next edition of December 9, 1961, the country name was changed to "Repoblika Malagasy".
In addition to the normal postage stamps intended for franking postal items, the Post issued 400 (from 1967: 420) so-called luxury prints (Epreuve de luxe) from each issue, which contain a single stamp on a small sheet of paper and 38 imperforate sheets (950 copies) Making imperforate stamps that were sold at the post office collector's counters in major cities. This practice had existed since the early 1930s for individual editions with different print runs, but was only carried out from 1960 for all editions with constant print runs.
On November 2, 1961, Madagascar became a member of the Universal Postal Union , in which it had previously been represented by France.
At the end of the First Republic, Madagascar had 191 post offices and 266 postal agencies, the latter being operated by salaried managers in smaller towns. In addition, there were 52 mobile post offices in minibuses, 5 rail mail cars on the Tananarive – Tamatave, Tananarive – Lac Alaotra, Tananarive – Antsirabe, Fianarantsoa – Manakara and Tananarive – Alarobia routes. 25 connections between coastal cities and offshore islands were also served by sea. There were 53 domestic routes by air, which were operated at least once a week, and a further 15 international flights.
In 1971 the following mail volumes were accounted for by the various modes of transport:
- Domestic flights 380 t
- International flights 263 t, including 205 t import and 58 t export
- Ship mail in Germany 143 t
- Ship mail abroad 847 t, of which 803 t import, 44 t export
- Railway 3845 t
From the 1975 revolution to the end of Ratsiraka's rule
From 1973 to 1975 Madagascar went through a politically unstable period that ended with Didier Ratsiraka's takeover and the proclamation of the Democratic Republic of Madagascar, a socialist state model. From December 1975 the stamps bore the inscription "Repoblika Demokratieika Malagasy" and two values, in Franc Malagasy and Ariary , the numerical value of the latter was written out in Malagasy. With the abolition of the fixed exchange rate between the Franc Malagasy and the French Franc, the value of the Franc Malagasy fell in the following years and the postage rates rose accordingly.
The statements of the postage stamp drafts became much more political, so far nature, buildings and technical achievements were mostly on the issuing program of the special stamps, from 1976 onwards it was often political slogans or friendship with socialist brother states. At the beginning of the 1980s, the issue of postage stamps that were no longer related to the country increased significantly. In order to generate foreign currency, the government hired foreign agencies to produce stamps, which the stamps were also marketed abroad. In the 1990s, this development reached its peak with brightly colored editions in honor of deceased Hollywood stars (1995), miniature sheets and pads to commemorate Princess Diana or a series and two pads to commemorate the sinking of the Titanic (1998).
In 1992 the country's name was changed again and appears on postage stamps as Repoblikan'i Madagasikara from 1993 .
Current development
With the end of the Ratsiraka rule in 2001/02, the Post returned to a conservative issuing program based only on national events. The political unrest in 2000/01 led to a further decline in the currency and the postage for domestic letters of the first weight category rose to 1,500 francs or 300 ariary. On August 1, 2003, the Ariary replaced the Franc Malagasy as currency, and the 2005 edition printed by the Beijing Stamp Printing Factory on the 30-year medical cooperation between Madagascar and the People's Republic of China was the first to show a value in Ariary alone.
literature
- Catalog Yvert et Tellier: Pays d'expression francaise , Volume 2, pp. 393-435, Amiens, 1991. ISBN 2-86814-035-1
- Jacques Desnos: Madagascar - Philatélie Malgache I: Les Affranchisements. Bulletin Col. Fra Hors-Série No. 5-8A, Paris 2009.
- Jacques Desnos: Madagascar - Philatélie Malgache II: Les Oblitérations. Bulletin Col. Fra Hors-Série No. 5-8B, Paris 2009.
- Ministère des Travaux Publics et des Communications: Timbres de Madagascar . Imprimerie Nationale, Tananarive 1972. 323 pp.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Jacques Desnos: Philately Malgache. Tome II Les Obliterations. Bulletin Col. Fra Hors-Série No. 5-8B, Paris, 2009, pp. 84-85
- ^ Post documents from the French expedition 1948–52
- ↑ Country page Madagascar at the Universal Postal Union
- ↑ James Mackay: The Complete Guide to Stamps and Stamp Collecting. Hermes House, London 2005. p. 217
- ^ Postage stamp from Madagascar on one page of the Universal Postal Union