West Africa

The British territory of The Gambia became the independent Republic of Gambia in 1965. Sierra Leone retained its name when it became independent in 1961, and became a Republic in 1971. The British Gold Coast colony became independent in 1957, and changed its name to Ghana.

The Portuguese only had one small colony, Portuguese Guinea, in Western Africa, plus the offshore colonies of the Azores islands and Cabo Verde. Portuguese Guinea was the first overseas Portuguese territory to declare its independence from Portugal, in September 1973, as Guinea-Bissau. The Islands of Azores have a more varied philatelic background. At first, stamps of Portugal were used in the colony. Later, stamps of Portugal were overprinted "Acores". From 1892 to 1905, each of the three districts that make up the colony of the Azores -- Angra, Horta, and Ponta Delgada -- issued their own stamps. Simultaneously, stamps were issued for the colony as a whole. The general issue stamps were overprinted "A", "H", "PD" and value in one color, while the design was printed in a different color. Stamps inscribed "Acores" were phased out in 1945, and then re-introduced in 1980 with Portuguese stamps with the additional inscription "Acores". The colony of Cabo Verde, a group of islands about 350 miles off the coast of Senegal in the Atlantic, became an independent nation in 1975.

The only German colony in West Africa was the small colony of Togo. This area was captured by combined forces of British and French troops in 1914, and divided between the two conquerors. The area became a League of Nations mandated territory in 1919, and the majority of it was later administered as a French colony. Portions of Togo occupied by the British forces were added to the Gold Coast colony, and now are incorporated into the territory of the Republic of Ghana.

Confounding the normal rule of things, the independent nation of Liberia, created by the United States in 1847 as a homeland for repatriated African slaves, still continues today with the same name!

As you can see, there aren't many places in Western Africa that have the same name they started with. Most of the name changes were the result of colonial boundary changes and independence. While not as confusing as the name-changing and boundary changes that took place in

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