Introduction

Postage stamps were first issued in England in 1840 as a means of payment for mailing letters. Yet, the first Egyptian postage stamp ever issued was in 1866 and illustrated the pyramids and the sphinx. Since then, Egyptian stamps have documented different Egyptian events, festivals, and memories. In this article, we will explore how Africa has been featured in Egyptian postage stamps and identify three categories of postage stamps that present Africa in Egypt from the 1960s to now. 

First: Liberation Movements and Charismatic Leadership

From the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Egyptian system was very keen to help the African countries to liberate themselves from colonization. By the end of the 1960s, and since many African countries were already liberated, Egypt issued postage stamps to illustrate the flags of the new African states, among them the flags of Zambia, Gabon, Algeria, Congo, etc. Almost all the flags of African countries were presented in Egyptian postage stamps during the 1960s. The Egyptian stamps did not ignore the African charismatic leaders. So, many stamps illustrated African leaders such as Lumumba and Nkrumah. 

Second: Intra-African Events, Occasions, and Organizations

Soon after the liberation of the African countries, they began to look forward to having different forms of cooperation and to show the power of one of the oldest and richest continents in the world. One of these occasions that was documented in stamps is the Day of Africa, an annual stamp on May 25th, for celebrating the continent. We also find stamps about the African Union annual conferences, African youth festivals, sportive events, especially the champions of the African Cup of Nations and the annual African soccer championship, African Bank activities, and many other events. 

Third: Continental Cooperation: Africa, Asia, and Europe

From the 1950s, Africa and Asia represented the newly born countries looking forward to building a coalition to face the existing two blocs: NATO and WARSAW. Many Afro-Asian events and organizations were featured in Egyptian postage stamps, such as the economic conference of Afro- Asian countries, the Afro-Asian youth conference and festival “Asiatico-Africaine”. In the 1990s, Egypt issued a stamp about the Afro-European conference, and other stamps about European-African events, but the number of stamps about Afro-Euro cooperation remains incomparable to the Afro- Asian one. 

Conclusion

Postage stamps are not only considered a means of payment for mailing letters, but they can be seen as historical documents and beautiful paintings that tell stories about the past, document the present, and play the role of the collective memory of nations.  The most impressive and crucial feature that Egyptian Stamps tells us about Africa is that Africa is the mother continent for all African countries and that Africa should not be divided into two parts: north and south, rather it is only Africa. 

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