East Africa will complete this series on the evolution of stamp-issuing states in Africa. East Africa has seen more than just a few changes in the 140+ years stamps have been issued for this area. We will include a few of the island groups located off the coast of East Africa in the Indian Ocean.
East Africa consists of the area from the northern border of Mozambique to the southern border of Egypt, and west from the Indian Ocean to the mountains of central Africa that form the border between present-day Zaire (and the Congo River Basin) and the more arid lands to the east. It's made up of the modern nations of Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Malagasy Republic. Off the coast of East Africa are several groups of islands, including the Comoro Islands, Zanzibar, Seychelles, Reunion, and Mauritius.
The largest country in East Africa, Sudan, is also one of the least populated. It stretches along the Nile River for 1100 miles north to south, and is approximately 900 miles wide - about the size of the states of California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, combined. The climate ranges from the heart of the Sahara desert in the north to dense rainforest jungles in the south. The far northeastern portion of the country borders the Red Sea, but there is only one true deepwater seaport.
Sudan began its philatelic history as a jointly-held territory controlled by Egypt and Britain. Stamps of Egypt were overprinted "Soudan" in Arabic and English. Stamps bearing the name "Sudan" were issued in 1898 - the famous "Camel Post" type that was used almost continuously in one printing or another until after 1950. Sudan became an independent state in 1956, and continues to issue stamps with the country's name unchanged.
The land south and east of Sudan is known as the "Horn of Africa", and has probably seen some of the most intense philatelic activity in all of Africa. The area currently consists of the nations of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Somalia. Only Ethiopia has remained unchanged since the first stamps were issued in the area in the 1890's.
Eritrea was originally an Italian colony on the Red Sea between Sudan and Ethiopia. Italy issued stamps for the colony, beginning around 1894, and continued until the colony was occupied by the British during World War II. Great Britain overprinted the then-current George VI stamps for use in the occupied territories, first with just the initials "E.A.F", for East Africa Forces, and then "B.M.A.//ERITREA" (British Military Administration, Eritrea), and finally, "B.A.//ERITREA" (British Administration, Eritrea). The territory was merged with Ethiopia in 1952, and stamps of Ethiopia were used from then until Eritrea regained its independence in 1993, after almost 30 years of civil war. In addition to Italian stamps overprinted "Eritrea", issues of the Italian colony, and the British occupation issues, collectors can pursue the stamps issued after independence, as well as a number of provisional and local issues created during the civil war, some of which actually saw postal use.
