This is a survey of the

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the f ...

s and postal history of

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

, briefly also known as Malagasy. Madagascar is an island nation in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

off the southeastern coast of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. The main island, also called Madagascar, is the fourth-largest island in the world.

First stamps

The first stamps used in Madagascar were general issues for the French Colonies. In 1889 the French colonial general issues were overprinted with new face values. Rossiter, Stuart & John Flower. ''The Stamp Atlas''. London: Macdonald, 1986, pp.328-330. Stamp Madagascar 1891 5c

The 1891 issue was printed locally on sheetlets of 10 stamps. The hand preparation of the die meant that each of the 10 positions had its own identifying traits. The differences usually pertain to the number of dots (points) in the two rows above and below the value. A quick count of the dots in the two pair of rows will usually discern the type, as well as indicate forgeries. The first set of definitives was issued in 1896. From 1912 to 1950, Madagascar stamps were also used in the Comoros.

Independence

The Malagasy Republic was proclaimed on 14 October 1958, as an autonomous state within the French Community, and attained full independence on 26 June 1960.. The first stamps of the republic were issued in December 1958.

Paositra Malagasy Paositra Malagasy is the national postal service of Madagascar. It is responsible for providing postal services and delivery of mail and packages within the country and to international destinations. Paositra Malagasy is headquartered in Antananariv ...

is the postal service provider. The country was renamed the

Democratic Republic of Madagascar The Democratic Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblika Demokratika Malagasy, french: République démocratique de Madagascar) was a socialist state that existed on the island of Madagascar from 1975 to 1992. History Establishment (1975) D ...

in 1975.

Nossi-Be issues

Nossi-Bé Nosy Be (formerly Nossi-bé and Nosse Be) is an island off the northwest coast of Madagascar. Nosy Be is Madagascar's largest and busiest tourist resort. It has an area of , and its population was 109,465 according to the provisional results of t ...

is an island off the western coast of Madagascar which became a French colony in 1841. Stamps were issued for Nossi-Bé from 1889 to 1894.

Sainte Marie de Madagascar issues

Sainte Marie de Madagascar is an island off the eastern coast of Madagascar ceded to the French in 1750. Stamps were issued for Sainte Marie de Madagascar in 1894. Stamp frcolonies madagascar

Diego-Suárez issues

Diego-Suárez, a city at the northern tip of Madagascar in Antsiranana province, issued its own postage stamps from 1890 to 1894.

British posts

British interests in Madagascar organised two different posts on the island. A runner service between

Tananarive Antananarivo ( French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana, is the capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known as Antananarivo-Renivohitra ("Antananarivo-Mother Hill" or "A ...

and the French Post Office at

Tamatave Toamasina (), meaning "like salt" or "salty", unofficially and in French Tamatave, is the capital of the Atsinanana region on the east coast of Madagascar on the Indian Ocean. The city is the chief seaport of the country, situated northeast of it ...

was organised by British residents before 1884. It was made official by the British Vice Consul in 1884. It used locally produced stamps between 1884 and 1897 after which stamps were discontinued but the service continued with handstruck marks. During the French war of occupation the British ran an inland postal service using special stamps between January and September 1895. This was not an official service of the British Post Office. File:Stamp BCM Madagascar 1886 1.5d.jpg, A stamp of the earlier British post in Madagascar supported by the British Vice Consul. File:Stamp BIM Madagascar 1895 1s.jpg, Stamps from the 1895 British inland postal service.

References

External links

*http://www.stampdomain.com/country/madagascar/index.shtml *http://catalogue.klaseboer.com/vol1/html/madag.htm {{PostalhistoryAfrica Communications in Madagascar