Big Blue 1840-1940 Stamp blog

bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2016/04/ClassicalerastampsofSyria.html

During WW I, the Ottoman Empire had sided with the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Germany, and was consequently occupied by both British and French troops.

A secret agreement was in place regarding how to divide the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire outside the Arabian peninsula ( The 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement). The British were allowed control of the lands from the Mediterranean Sea to the River Jordan, Jordan, southern Iraq, and the ports of Haifa and Acre. An "international administration" was to govern Palestine.

France assumed control of Syria and Lebanon, south-eastern Turkey, and northern Iraq.

Stamps were issued under French Occupation on November 21, 1919 overprinted T.E.O. "Territoires Ennemis Occupes".

bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2016/04/ClassicalStampsofTanganyika.html

Tanganyika consisted of the largest section of the former German East Africa, and was occupied initially in 1916, then administered by the British from 1922-1946 as a League of Nations Mandate, and subsequently as a United Nations Trust Territory until 1961.

bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2016/05/ClassicalStampsofTasmania.html

Tasmania, an island just off south-eastern Australia, was one of the six British colonies that merged to form the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901.

But Tasmania, as the other Australian colonies, has a prior rich philatelic history, with stamp issues from 1853-1912.

bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2016/05/ClassicalStampsofthailand-siam.html

Thailand is the only Southeast Asian nation that was never colonized, and served as a buffer state between French Indochina and the British Empire. And Thailand has always had a king as head of state since Bangkok was established as the capital of the Chakri Dynasty under Rama I in 1782.

bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2016/05/ClassicalStampsofthurn-and-taxis.html

The Thurn and Taxis Princely House (Tassis) has had a long history of providing mail and newspaper courier distribution services- originally since 1290 for Italian city-states, and then spreading by the 16th century to a postal route network encompassing Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Spain, and the Low countries (now Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg). They were named the Imperial Postmasters General for the Holy Roman Empire in 1748.

bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2016/06/ClassicalStampsofTimor.html

Situated in the Malay Archipelago, off the northern coast of Australia, the mountainous and coastal mangrove swamp island of Timor was divided between Portuguese Timor (Colony founded-1702), and the Dutch East Indies by the Treaty of Lisbon in 1859. The colonial powers agreed to split the island between them: the Portuguese inhabited the eastern section, while the Dutch colonized the western part. The border was finalized in 1914 - it is still the official border between modern day East Timor and Indonesia.

bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2016/06/ClassicalStampsofTogo.html

The 1900 issue higher denomination (four stamps) output for Togoland was engraved with this lovely portrait of the Kaiser's Yacht. This is one of my all time favorite classical designs.

bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2016/06/ClassicalStampsofTonga.html

Captain James Cook in 1773 named them the "Friendly Islands", because of his warm reception there. (Actually, the Tongan Chiefs wanted to kill him, but disputed the exact mode. ;-)

The Tongans are Polynesian, and the native language of Tonga is related to the similar Polynesian languages found in Niue, Samoa, and Hawaii. Now, the other official language is English.

Tonga became a constitutional monarchy under King George Tupou I (Siaosi), in 1875. The King was aided by a Methodist Wesleyan trained missionary named Shirley Waldemar Baker, who subsequently became the King's prime minister (1881-1890), and founded the independent "Free Church of Tonga".

Stamps were issued with a King George I visage in 1886.

bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2016/07/ClassicalStampsoftransvaal-south-african-republic.html

The South African Republic (ZAR, Transvaal), one of the Dutch speaking Boer states, was an independent country from 1852-1902. (The other independent country was the Orange Free State.)

But when gold fields were discovered in 1886, it significantly elevated British interest.

The Boers defeated the British in the First 1877-1881 Boer War, but surrendered to the British after the bloody 1899-1902 Second Boer War on May 31, 1902 with the Treaty of Vereeniging.

bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2016/07/ClassicalStampsofTrinidad-Tobago.html

The Trinidad & Tobago stamp issues have three highlights for the WW classical era collector: the 1935-37 nine stamp pictorials, the 1938-41 fourteen stamp George VI fourteen pictorials, and the 1917 thirteen stamp "War Tax" category.

bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2016/08/TheClassicalStampsofTunisia.html

The Ottoman Empire was gradually crumbling, and Tunisia, consisting of Arabs and Berbers, was a province in that Empire, although largely enjoying autonomy. In that era, the European imperialistic powers traded the rest of the world's lands as if they were their own private chess pieces. In that vein, at the Berlin Congress of 1878, the British offered control of Tunisia to the French if they (the British) could have Cyprus. The French were already occupying Algeria, and the offer was accepted.

bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2016/08/ClassicalStampsofturkey-in-asia.html

The Turkish War of Independence was successful, with the overthrow of the Ottoman Sultanate, the forced withdrawal of Allied forces from Anatolia, and, finally, the establishment of the Republic of Turkey.

The stamps of the era are referred to as "Turkey in Asia" or "Anatolia". From 1920 to 1922, stocks of old stamps were overprinted, or revenue stamps were handstamped "Osmanli Postalari 1336" for postal use.

bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2016/08/ClassicalStampsofturks-caicos-islands.html

The islands were named after the Turk's cap (head) cactus, and the Lucayo (Bahamian) subdialect "cayo hico" term, which means "string of islands".

bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2016/09/ClassicalStampsofUbangi-Shari.html

The first issue for Ubangi-Shari proper was released in 1915, and consisted of Middle Congo stamps that were overprinted "Oubangui-Chari-Chad".

Beginning on April 12, 1916, Ubangi-Shari was separately administered.

The Lake Chad portion of the territory was removed from Ubangi-Shari in 1920, and the stamps, beginning in 1922, now were overprinted "Oubangui-Chari".