Small Collecting Areas (3), Stamps of Afars and Issas

In this column, we discuss a region that issued a number of stamps for only a short time. This time: Afars and Issas.

Postage stamps bearing the country name “Territoire Francais des Afars et des Issas” were issued between 1967 and 1977. This concerns the region in Northeast Africa at the entrance to the Red Sea, which continued as Djibouti after independence on June 27, 1977. Below are the first stamps with the territory name from 1967.

Until 1967, this area was called French Somalia.

Djibouti is not only the current name of the country but also the name of the capital and the administrative center. That has not always been the case. In the 19th century, the city of Obock was the French administrative center.

Before French Somalia appeared as a country name on the stamps, stamps had already been issued with Obock as the area name.

The name Afars and Issas refers to the two main population groups. The Afars live primarily in the north and the Issas in the south.

This is a sought-after area among collectors. And not only among collectors of French regions, but especially among thematic collectors all over the world.

Afars en Issas has issued approximately 180 stamps over a period of 10 years. Each one a beautifully executed, colorful stamp. Featuring a lot of fauna, but also various stamps showing something of the landscape or the layout.

If you want to view all stamps from Afars and Issas in the Freestampcatalogue, click here. Or click here to see which ones are currently in stock at PostBeeld.

All stamps of Afars and Issas were also released in small editions without perforations.