Propaganda for the millions: images from Africa.

Stamp imagery is a fruitful object of study on numerous grounds. Stamps are the work of artists, frequently indigenous to the countries they work for, who are attempting to convey an idea, a feeling for particular themes of interest to the historian. For many countries, stamps are a means of conveying knowledge about that country's cultural heritage to the outside world. Stamps often have a broader impact than the actual objects depicted, as they are collected by millions of people world wide. In the United States, Hong Kong, Japan, and Western Europe alone there are not less than two million collectors whose knowledge of Africa comes from stamps and not from museums. Stamp images are an ever-changing iconography that informs us of the interests of both the patrons who commission the stamps and those who buy them. Stamps bear emblems of tradition and power and although there is only anecdotal evidence of their impact, it certainly exists. I can vouch from my own experience when, as a child and later a young man, I developed a curiosity about the "native" peoples on francophone African stamps or the animals, castles, and art on anglophone stamps. Stamp imagery thus continues to provide impressions of the other world as much as well-thumbed copies of National Geographic. The Ife head on the 1953 Nigerian stamp (Fig. 1; Nigeria Scott 86) (1) certainly excited my own curiosity before I came to Africa in the mid-1950s, when the academic study of Africa was still in its infancy.

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Just what is depicted on the stamps of Africa? Stamps serve to proclaim and legitimize the authority of rulers. Like the Maria Theresa silver dollars so common in Africa in the early nineteenth century, or the Queen Victoria gold sovereigns at that century's end, the earliest stamps of Africa depicted European symbols of authority: the ruler's head, the Kaiser's yacht, or the allegorical symbols of freedoms and values that imperial powers failed to provide for their African subjects. Many of the earliest stamps, like those of Togo, were overprinted German stamps or stamps identical to those in Britain but with the addition of the territorial name.

Following World War I, the tendency developed to provide recognizable identifiers, stereotypes of what the issuing authority felt characterized their possession. Thus there were, at different times, the lion for Kenya, Uganda, and Tanganyika (Fig. 2; Tanganyika Scott 48), the giraffe for Tanganyika, the pyramid for Egypt, the camel for the Sudan, the palm tree for much of French West Africa, Christiansborg Castle for Ghana, the soapstone eagle and the Great Zimbabwe tower for Southern Rhodesia, and masks for the Belgian Congo. When commemorative stamps began to be issued in the 1930s, they celebrated colonial expositions in France; coronations, jubilees, and royal marriages in Britain; Victory in Europe; and Universal Postal Union anniversaries.

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Events which Africa would now like to forget were also celebrated, such as the centenary of Cecil Rhodes's birth in 1953, the fiftieth anniversary of the crushing of the Ndebele uprising in 1943 (Southern Rhodesia Scott 64), the centenaries of famous Europeans who discovered Africa's rivers and facilitated the era of imperialism, and fifty years of Belgian monarchs in the Congo. The Manifest Destiny of the Boers and their treks to open up new lands for settlement were a feature of South African stamps, a pointed reminder to both the peoples of the territory and the outside world that this trusteeship was clearly part of the Republic of South Africa's domain. The last ten years of colonial rule were marked with relatively sedate pictorials, animals, local monuments, scenic attractions, "native" types (Fig. 3; Gabon Scott J33 and Cameroun Scott 321), and village scenes for francophone Africa but these were certainly no celebration of African heritage.

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The first stamps of independence celebrated not only symbols of nationhood, torches of freedom, and the vibrant colors of flags (Fig. 4; Mali Scott 1), but also new monuments such as state hotels as well as achievements that proclaimed national promise of progress in agriculture, industry, education, and health care (as in the stamps of Uganda). Within the next ten years, the exuberance of Africa's wildlife, floral, aquatic, and avian richness was displayed often on definitives, or stamps meant for daily use over extended periods of time, while special events such as the anniversaries of the various UN agencies which support Africa, the visits of foreign dignitaries, and the establishment of pan-African organizations dominate commemoratives, or stamps issued over very short periods to commemorate a specific event or to honor some aspect of cultural heritage.

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With independence, the median size of stamps increased. In the period before 1914 the average stamp was 10mm x 25mm, with the occasional stamp, like the high-value German issues depicting the Kaiser's yacht, reaching 25mm x 35mm. After 1920 many stamps were as large as 25mm x 40mm. Many post-1961 stamps are up to 40mm x 50mm, which allows for larger images more suited to printing techniques, rather than previous images derived from engravings.

Unlike the colonial issues, all the African countries began to proclaim their heroes from their own and the rest of Africa's past and from the struggle against colonialism. (2) They also demonstrated their political allegiances, with Marx and Lenin on Guinean stamps and Kennedy and American figures on those from anglophone and Americanophile countries. The stamps of North Africa proclaimed pan-Arab unity and solidarity with the Palestinian cause. (3) Many countries established or enlarged their national museums, and issues from Chad, Ethiopia, and Botswana feature archaeological finds. Archaeological congresses, such as the 1967 Pan African Prehistory Congress in Senegal (Senegal Scott 295-6), provided occasions for showcasing Stone Age finds, fossil remains, monuments, and art revealed through new excavation. Several countries, such as Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania (Fig. 5; Tanzania Scott 176-9), produced sets which covered both monuments and antiquities. The quest for cultural integrity, expanded tourism, and invigorated educational interest led to some really fabulous series of stamps on a variety of themes. One such series covered rock art, which tastefully announced the significance and beauty of rock art in the Sahara and southern Africa. This is a continuing tradition, so that through the imagery of stamps, the paintings of the Tassili (Fig. 6; Algeria Scott 344-7, 365-8), the Ennedi mountains of the Sahara (Chad Scott 148-50), the Cape, Botswana, and the Drakensburg mountains, as depicted on the stamps of South Africa (Fig. 7; South Africa Scott 694-7), Botswana, Swaziland, and Lesotho (Fig. 8.; Lesotho Scott 60-6), are now much better known philatelically than the earlier rock art of France and Spain.

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The Inter Governmental Philatelic Corporation (IGPC; now the Inter Governmental Philatelic Agency, IGPA), based in New York, began its operations with newly independent Ghana in 1957 and has merchandised increasingly large numbers of African stamps abroad. The agency currently represents more than thirty African states and markets most of their commemoratives, the designs for which are suggested by the agency based on its assessment of the demands of foreign collectors as opposed to those of the African public. Until the 1980s, most African countries made an effort to reflect local interests. (4) Many countries had issues on musical instruments (Chad Scott 116-20), ceramics, and crafts depicted in specially created art work. Other topics covered include the perennial masks, masquerades, dances, regional costume, ceremonial dress, hairdressing, jewelry, and emblems of office, and there was even a wonderful series on legends from Guinea (Fig. 9; Guinea Scott 504-11). The art work was commissioned from both national and overseas artists. Many of the latter had never even visited the country but worked from photographs and detailed instructions. The artists' names often appear discreetly, below the images.

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The expanded use of souvenir and minisheets (5) started as early as 1960 in Ghana and significantly expanded from the late 1970s. This has resulted in the production of many more stamps geared to outside collectors, particularly young adults in developed countries. The larger format, often in sheets of up to twelve different stamps, facilitates the depiction of large themes, as very often parts of the whole are presented in adjacent stamps known as "se-tenant." Many souvenir sheets have a single image with the image bled outside the perforations, making the whole sheet rather than just the stamp the collectible item. Many of these stamps provide excellent representations of topics of interest to the art historian, such as sheets from Ghana on dances in 1984, fertility dolls in 1987 and 1994, musical instruments in 1987 and 1991, hairstyles in 1997 (Fig. 10; Ghana Scott 1914-15), and special cultural anniversaries such as the silver jubilee of Asantehene Otumpuo Opoku Ware II in 1995.

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The number of African stamps has increased dramatically in recent years, with many of the poorest countries or those with the least stable governments producing the most. It is no coincidence that Liberia, Guinea, the Comoros, Tanzania, the Gambia, the Central African Republic, and Sierra Leone between them produced 2,493 new images in 1999 (Fig. 11). Topics appealing to outside collectors dominate their issues as they bring big sales, sales that often help the ruling elite rather than the national treasury. Guinea alone has had four sets depicting Princess Diana, and Disney character issues have appeared on twenty-three Sierra Leone sets in fifteen years, on twenty-four sets for the Gambia in fourteen years, twelve times on Lesotho stamps in eleven years, and on numerous issues of other African countries.

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Though African nations are rightfully proud of their wildlife, it is mainly animals popular with collectors that dominate stamp images, such as recent se-tenant sheets with giraffes in a waterhole scene from Uganda and elephants from Tanzania. The older and younger John Kennedy turns up on late 1990s stamps of Togo and Niger. Jackie Gleason, Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball, Elvis Presley, and many other entertainers have been publicized but virtually none of Africa's great musicians. The appeal to the Asian collector is apparent with six issues from Tanzania between 1997 and 1999 covering Chinese art, Asian masks, and the Chinese New Year. There are annual Chinese New Year issues for the Gambia but no issues honoring its own Muslim residents.

Western European art, and more recently Japanese and Chinese art, is now a constant on African stamps. Much of the art depicts themes inappropriate to the social mores of the countries issuing the stamps, such as the Ingres painting of a kiss from the Islamic Republic of Mauritania (Fig. 12; Mauritania Scott C66). Many countries celebrated the new millennium with souvenir sheets but most of the images were clearly selected for European audiences. An Ife head made it onto a Chad sheet but other great African art, ancient capitals, Mansa Musa, Great Zimbabwe, the slave trade, and resistance wars did not get a look in, although the Kilwa ruins and Zimbabwe have appeared on some UNESCO issues.

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In varying degrees, however, African stamps do showcase African culture and African creativity. Most countries have had archaeological issues, often suggested by curators or archaeologists in African museums. Nigeria (Fig. 13; Nigeria Scott 255-7) is particularly well served, although with repetition of too few pieces from too few sites. One of the earliest collections of work depicted is the Sao figurines from Chad, in 1963 and 1966 (Chad Scott 90-4, 121-4). Chad has also covered many other aspects of its cultural heritage, including some attractive schematic depictions of crafts in 1964 (Chad Scott 96-9) and 1970 (Chad Scott 229-229D). As is to be expected, Kenya and Tanzania have displayed their early hominids, with backgrounds depicting the sites where fossils and other remains were found. Since the end of apartheid, South Africa has produced some wonderful stamps, several on minisheets, covering early South African history (1998) and crafts (1997). Modern creative art has not fared as well, although Morocco (1981 Jillali Ghabaoui issue, Morocco Scott 483) and Mozambique (1980) have shown their painters, Zimbabwe its soapstone carvers (1983), Venda its wood carvers (1980), and Gabon its contemporary carving for the Catholic church (1983). Both traditional and contemporary Ethiopian painting has been featured. (6)

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Traditional architecture been depicted, although clearly with an emphasis on the more spectacular examples like the Tamberma and Somba tower houses that straddle the Togo-Benin border (Fig. 14; Togo Scott 1577, Dahomey Scott C14), the Ganvie lake village in Benin, Asante fetish houses, Sudanic mosques in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana, Kano town walls, the Dahomey royal palace (Fig. 15; Benin Scott 562), and larger traditional houses as in a series from Cote d'Ivoire. Modern churches and new buildings of note have regularly appeared. As a historical archaeologist, I have appreciated some of the featured colonial architecture, which ranges from the already well-known castles of Ghana to early colonial buildings in francophone Africa and a set on historical buildings in Tanzania (1983). (7)

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Masks, which appeared on preindependence issues, have continued to be shown in issues from Mozambique, Gabon, and Guinea. One of the most enchanting depictions of a griot/musician is on a 1978 Niger issue (Fig. 16; Niger Scott 459). Where human beings are shown, they do not appear for their physical characteristics, as they did in colonial issues, but for such attributes as hair dressing styles, scarification (Togo 1985), and jewelry. Different varieties of metalware have been feasted, including crosses from Niger and Ethiopia and weapons from Gabon. Many household objects also have been featured, including ceremonial stools on Ghanaian stamps, as well as weights used for weighing gold dust (1983, Ghana Scott 889-90), which appeared for many years on a Ghanaian definitive issue clearly intended for the local market. There have been some very good issues on crafts from Dahomey, Guinea, Mall, and Chad. Contrary to what might be expected, stamps from Muslim countries in Africa contain representations of buildings and animals rather than simply Arabic writing.

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Images of interest to the art historian have often been employed to highlight occasions unconnected with art, such as a pair of Ibeji figures on a 1971 Dahomey stamp co the National Lottery (Dahomey Scott 285), two beautiful photographic images of Nubian monuments on Guinean stamps commemorating the centenary of Egyptian stamps in 1964 (Guinea Scott 350-4), and a Nigerian stamp from 1995 with a talking drum and a telephone to hail the International Telecommunications Union. Festivals of African arts, and more recently FESTPAC, have served to bring out themes covering all the arts, as well as the Atlantic links of the African world. Benin, with stamps devoted to Vodoun in 1992 (Benin Scott 692) and others commemorating the Route of the Slave conference in 1994, produced stamps that evoke the horrors of the slave trade and the joy of freedom when emancipation came. Though textile technology and costume have been featured, there has been little attempt, perhaps because of size limitations, to highlight the splendors of West African textiles, (8) though there have been some fine images of Moroccan carpets (1972-73, 1974, and 1982-83), sashes (1968), and Tunisian tapestries (1993, Tunisia Scott 1038) and their weavers (1983, Tunisia Scott 839). Metal technology, as opposed to metal objects, is rare, exceptions being copper-working shown on stamps of Chad (Chad Scott 229D) and of blacksmiths on a 1981 Zambian stamp (Zambia Scott 241) and on one from Chad in 1964 (Chad Scott 99).

There are many differences between the stamps of different African countries, often traceable to national wealth and geography. Many overemphasize outside themes such as celebrities, Disney characters, game, flowers, and paintings, whereas some of the larger, more independent states like South Africa and Nigeria, which produce larger numbers of stamps, have stuck to more local subjects. There are countries in between such as Togo, (9) on whose stamp commission the noted artist Paul Ahyi serves, which though sanctioning some of the same IGPA stamps for mass appeal has nevertheless produced some fascinating series. One such was a 1980-81 market activities set depicting different traders and products, in twenty-four stamps. Twenty-one different dances have been represented in four issues from 1983-96. There are big differences between sub-Saharan African countries and the Arabic countries of North Africa. The North Africans depict more of their cultural heritage, though their stamps are more political and do not pander in the same way to the agencies. (10) On Libyan stamps between 1986 and 1992, 41% of the images referred in some way to national or international politics, compared to 8% in Nigeria and 12% in Malawi for the period 1986-97. (11) Immediately after a revolution or a dramatic change of government there are some exuberant examples of patriotic art. This is clearly seen in stamps from Tanzania in 1965, Mozambique in the late 1970s, and Somalia after 1976. National heroes and new public monuments are depicted as a way of sending a message of nationalistic fervor in the struggle against imperialism, both to the country's own people and to the outside world.

With the commercial expansion of stamp making, a discrepancy has emerged between the stamps on sale in Africa--generally smaller-sized definitive issues with local themes such as coats of arms (as in Senegal), political leaders, and local scenes--and the commemoratives designed for the overseas market. These latter are often difficult to purchase outside of the philatelic bureaux in the African capitals, and are usually larger, some being even more than 60mm in one dimension. They contain targeted themes often irrelevant to the countries issuing them and are thus primarily appropriate to collectors in countries who may know little about the countries issuing the stamps. Many of these issues are postmarked to order by the post office or sold in mint form and in whole sheets. Several years ago, in a H-Net Africa exchange on African stamps, many commentators disparaged African stamps. From my own previous study of American stamps, (12) it is only fair to conclude that if it is Africa's cultural legacy we are interested in, then Africa's stamps provide a more comprehensive coverage than critics imagine. In contrast, one will search in vain on United States stamps for depictions of rock art, the truly stupendous Mississippian Cahokia mounds, the Chaco Canyon Anasazi pueblo, Folsom or other Amerindian stone tools, or even the hallmark sites of America's colonial past at Williamsburg, St. Augustine, or Plimouth Plantation.

This has been a very cursory overview, with more topics on iconography, stamp artistry, and culture left out than included, but I hope that art historians will in future regard images on stamps as a serious new frontier to explore in the same way that postcards from Africa have been investigated. American museums are woefully weak in stamp collections, thus hampering academic research. Museums are strongly urged to consider developing African stamp collections as essential components of any collection representative of Africa. Stamps fortunately are not greedy for space and are still relatively inexpensive to amass, as long as one eschews rarities that, unlike other branches of African art history, are no more informative about their subject than regular issues.

worldwide totals of stamps issued in 1999
(top 50 countries)

Latin America           23%
Asia                    28%
Africa                  39%
First World countries   10%

[This article was accepted for publication in December 2003.]

(1.) It is usual to refer to stamp issues using the catalogue numbers in the Scott Standard Postage Catalogue, published annually by the Scott Publishing Company of Sidney, Ohio. (Because of the large number of stamps referred to in this paper, Scott numbers are not given for all stamps.) In Britain the standard guide to stamps is the Stanley Gibbons catalogue, with separate volumes for Commonwealth countries and stamps of the world. For former French colonies and francophone countries, the standard catalogue is published by Yvert and for the former German colonies by Michel. From 2003, some catalogues appeared with colored images for the first time, although not as yet for contemporary issues. There is a extensive bibliography dealing with such information as watermarks, misprints, color variations, overprints, and rarity, although very few papers which analyze the images themselves or the messages meant to be conveyed by the issuing agencies. L.N. Williams, Fundamentals of Philately (1990; State College, Pa.: American Philatelic Society) provides a concise introduction to stamp collecting but it does not address many of the themes pertinent to the present papers.

(2.) See, for instance, pictures of Dahomean kings (1970, Dahomey Scott 271-4),and Guinea's martyrs and heroes of Africa (1962, Guinea Scott 258-62).

(3.) Palestinian Solidarity Day was marked by stamp issues by many African countries, particularly those in North Africa and the Sahelian belt with Muslim majority populations.

(4.) In the late 1960s and early 1970s, there was an effort to attract more overseas collectors with special series on gold foil. Many, like the 1971 Napoleon sesquicentennial of Togo (Togo Scott 780A), are keenly sought by collectors. Around the same period the practice began of extended series, on a large and pretty unusable format, of European art and French queens and other royalty, such as those embossed issues of Chad (1971, Chad Scott 231-5), many of which were not available in the country itself.

(5.) Souvenir sheets are issued specifically for collectors; sometimes the stamps are perforated and the borders are as informative as the stamps. Minisheets contain from four stamps upwards and are often sold to collectors postmarked. They are generally smaller and more collectible than the souvenir streets.

(6.) Several countries have displayed church art from their own countries, often for Christmas issues as in Togo (1986 and 1987).

(7.) Another set, restricted to Zanzibar, was issued in 1992.

(8.) There is a colorful 1965 issue on Dahomey appliques (Dahomey Scott 198-201).

(9.) Unfortunately, in the past five or six years Togo has slipped, issuing more of the IGPC suggested themes, perhaps a sad reflection of Togo's deteriorating economic condition and the ruling elite's need for the unpublicized earnings that outside stamp sales provide.

(10.) Curiously, there may be a religious reason to this, in that IGPC seems to be dominated by Hassidic Jews from New York whose control would certainly be anathema to countries like Libya and Algeria.

(11.) "Political" in this sense would refer to issues covering conferences, human rights, pan-Arabic or pan-African organizations, pictures of the president and the military, celebrations of Independence Day, and display of political emblems like the flag.

(12.) In a paper presented to the Society for Historical Archaeology at Long Beach, California, in January, 2001, on "Opportunities Overlooked--Images for the Millions: A Plea for Projecting Historical Archaeology on Postage Stamps."