This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

First stamps

Stamps date from 1877, with the same key type design of the Portuguese crown as used elsewhere in the Portuguese territories. The original nine values were followed up by color changes in 1881 (10r and 40r) and 1885 (20r, 25r). These were followed by the King Luiz issue in 1886.

District issues

In the 1890s, stamps were issued for the districts of the colonial administration, Zambezia,

Inhambane Inhambane, also known as Terra de Boa Gente (''Land of Good People''), is a city located in southern Mozambique, lying on Inhambane Bay, 470 km northeast of Maputo. It is the capital of the Inhambane Province and according to the 2017 census ...

, and

Lourenço Marques Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088 ...

and the district of

, for use in each area. In 1898, King Carlos I was the subject of a lengthy series, which by 1903 numbered 23 colors and denominations. File:POR LM 1898 MiNr0033 mt B002.jpg, Stamp for

, 1898. File:Stamp Zambezia 1903 25r.jpg, Stamp for Zambezia, 1903. In 1913, the postal districts of

Quelimane Quelimane () is a seaport in Mozambique. It is the administrative capital of the Zambezia Province and the province's largest city, and stands from the mouth of the Rio dos Bons Sinais (or "River of the Good Signs"). The river was named when V ...

and

Tete Tete is the capital city of Tete Province in Mozambique. It is located on the Zambezi River, and is the site of two of the four bridges crossing the river in Mozambique. A Swahili trade center before the Portuguese colonial era, Tete continues ...

were created from Zambezia and separate stamps were issued. All districts shared the

Ceres Ceres most commonly refers to: * Ceres (dwarf planet), the largest asteroid * Ceres (mythology), the Roman goddess of agriculture Ceres may also refer to: Places Brazil * Ceres, Goiás, Brazil * Ceres Microregion, in north-central Goiás ...

design. Issues for the districts ended in 1920, in favor of stamps valid through Mozambique. File:POR LM 1914 MiNr0118 mt B002.jpg, 1914 Ceres series. File:Stamp Mozambique 1921 1e.jpg, 1914 Ceres series. File:Stamp Tete 1914 5c.jpg, 1914 Ceres series.

Twentieth century

Stamp Mozambique 1915 115r on 25r republica

The 1910 revolution resulted in a variety of

overprint An overprint is an additional layer of text or graphics added to the face of a postage or revenue stamp, postal stationery, banknote or ticket after it has been printed. Post offices most often use overprints for internal administrative pur ...

s reading "REPUBLICA" on both the existing stamps, and on previously-unissued stamps depicting

Manuel II of Portugal ''Dom'' Manuel II (15 November 1889 – 2 July 1932), "the Patriot" ( pt, "o Patriota") or "the Unfortunate" (), was the last King of Portugal, ascending the throne after the assassination of his father, King Carlos I, and his elder brother, ...

Various expediencies required a variety of surcharged stamps throughout the 1920s. In 1933, the Lusiad issue became standard, followed by the

Empire issue An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

in 1938. Postwar issues followed the general pattern for the Portuguese colonies. A

definitive series A definitive stamp is a postage stamp that is part of the regular issue of a country's stamps, available for sale by the post office for an extended period of time and designed to serve the everyday postal needs of the country. The term is used in ...

of 1948 featured a variety of local scenery, while a 1951 series of 24 stamps depicted

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

in full color. A 1953 series showed

butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

and

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

s, while the 1961 series included the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

of various Mozambique cities. The 1963 series showed historic ships, while in 1967 the theme was soldiers.

Since independence

The

Lusaka Agreement The Lusaka Protocol, initialed in Lusaka, Zambia on October 31, 1994, attempted to end the Angolan Civil War by integrating and disarming UNITA and starting national reconciliation. Both sides signed a truce as part of the protocol on November 15 ...

of 1974 was marked in January 1975 with a philatelic design consisting of a stylized bird formed from Portugal's and Mozambique's flags. On June 25, 1975, many existing stamps, some going back as far as 1953, were issued with an overprint marking independence. Issues of independent Mozambique have been relatively restrained and focus on local subjects. Philatelic issues are frequently released in sets of four-to-six stamps. For instance, in 1985 there were 10 issues, of which three were single commemoratives, five were sets of four, and the remaining two were sets of six.

Kionga issues

The

Kionga Triangle The Kionga Triangle (german: Kionga-Dreieck, pt, Triângulo de Quionga) was a small region of German East Africa situated at the mouth of the Ruvuma River. The Ruvuma served as the border between the German colony and Portuguese Mozambique, and ...

was a tiny territory on the border between

German East Africa German East Africa (GEA; german: Deutsch-Ostafrika) was a German colony in the African Great Lakes region, which included present-day Burundi, Rwanda, the Tanzania mainland, and the Kionga Triangle, a small region later incorporated into Mozam ...

(present-day

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

) and

Portuguese Mozambique Portuguese Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique) or Portuguese East Africa (''África Oriental Portuguesa'') were the common terms by which Mozambique was designated during the period in which it was a Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colony. Portuguese Moz ...

occupied by the Portuguese forces in 1916. On May 29, 1916, stamps from

were

ed "KIONGA".

Private postal systems

In 1891 the

Mozambique Company The Mozambique Company (Portuguese: ''Companhia de Moçambique'') was a royal company operating in Portuguese Mozambique that had the concession of the lands in the Portuguese colony corresponding to the present provinces of Manica and Sofala in ...

was chartered to administer the Manica and

Sofala Sofala, at present known as Nova Sofala, used to be the chief seaport of the Mwenemutapa Kingdom, whose capital was at Mount Fura. It is located on the Sofala Bank in Sofala Province of Mozambique. It was founded by Somali merchants. This name wa ...

areas, for which they issued their own stamps until 1942. They were followed by the

Nyassa Company The Niassa Company or Nyassa Chartered Company () was a royal company in the Portuguese colony of Mozambique, then known as Portuguese East Africa, that had the concession of the lands that include the present provinces of Cabo Delgado and Nia ...

in 1898, whose stamps continued until 1929.

Sources

Scott catalogue The Scott catalogue of postage stamps, published by Scott Publishing Company, now a subsidiary of Amos Media, is updated annually and lists all the stamps of the world that its editors recognize as issued for postal purposes. It is published in f ...

References

External links

Linns Refresher Course: The other empire: collect Portuguese colonies by Rick Miller.Archived at WebCite here."Nationalism and the colonial imprint: the stamps of Portugal and Lusophone Africa and Asia" by Igor Cusack, University of Bristol, Department of Politics and Department of Hispanic Studies.Archived at WebCite here.
{{PostalhistoryAfrica Communications in Mozambique

Philately of Portugal Philately of Mozambique