Namibia, formerly known as South West Africa and German South West Africa, has a long history of postal services, starting in 1814 with postal runners delivering messages among mission stations. The first stamps were printed during the German colonial period. Currently [update] NamPost is responsible for running postal services, managing 135 postal offices in the country.
The first postal services in Namibia (then known as South West Africa) started in 1814 with the deployment of messengers facilitating communication between the early mission stations at Warmbad and Bethanie and later to Keetmanshoop and Gross Barmen. This service was expanded in 1846, connecting the South West African mission stations to those in South Africa. [1]
The first post office of South West Africa was founded in Otjimbingwe in 1888, further offices were established in Windhoek (1891) and Swakopmund (1895). [1]
The South African Army overran the colony in 1914–15 and the territory was controlled by South Africa until Namibian independence in 1990.
Namibia has issued regular definitive and commemorative stamps since independence in 1989. NamPost is the company responsible for postal service in Namibia. It currently [update] has 743 employees in 135 post offices, and reserves of N$2.51 million. CEO of NamPost is Festus Hangula. [1]
In 1989, the last stamps of South West Africa were a set of 15 depicting minerals and mining. Shortly before their issue in 1990, the territory gained independence as Namibia. As the stamps were new, most of the designs were kept with only the name changed (cuprite was dropped and willemite added for the Namibian issue).
Another problem was that one of the stamps, for boltwoodite, had an error in its chemical equation. This was corrected in the Namibian issue. [2]
A cancellation is a postal marking applied on a postage stamp or postal stationery to deface the stamp and to prevent its reuse. Cancellations come in a huge variety of designs, shapes, sizes, and colors. Modern cancellations commonly include the date and post office location where the stamps were mailed, in addition to lines or bars designed to cover the stamp itself. The term "postal marking" sometimes is used to refer specifically to the part that contains the date and posting location, but the term is often used interchangeably with "cancellation." The portion of a cancellation that is designed to deface the stamp and does not contain writing is also called the "obliteration" or killer. Some stamps are issued pre-cancelled with a printed or stamped cancellation and do not need to have a cancellation added. Cancellations can affect the value of stamps to collectors, positively or negatively. Cancellations of some countries have been extensively studied by philatelists, and many stamp collectors and postal history collectors collect cancellations in addition to the stamps themselves.
Indian postal systems for efficient military and governmental communications had developed long before the arrival of Europeans. When the Portuguese, Dutch, French, Danish and British conquered the Marathas who had already defeated the Mughals, their postal systems existed alongside those of many somewhat independent states. The British East India Company gradually annexed the other powers on the sub-continent and brought into existence a British administrative system over most of modern-day India, with a need to establish and maintain both official and commercial mail systems.
The Department of Posts (DoP), trading as India Post, is a government-operated postal system in India, which is a subsidiary of the Ministry of Communications. Generally called "the Post Office" in India, it is the most widely distributed postal system in the world. Warren Hastings had taken initiative under East India Company to start the Postal Service in India in 1688. It was initially established under the name "Company Mail". It was later modified into a service under the "crown" in 1854 by Lord Dalhousie. Dalhousie introduced uniform postage rates and helped to pass the India Post Office Act 1854 which significantly improved upon 1837 Post Office act which had introduced regular post offices in India. It created the position Director General of Post for the whole country.
The British post offices in Morocco, also known as the "Morocco Agencies", were a system of post offices operated by Gibraltar and later the United Kingdom in Morocco.
Otjimbingwe is a settlement in the Erongo Region of central Namibia. It has approximately 8,000 inhabitants.
The postage stamps and postal history of Israel is a survey of the postage stamps issued by the state of Israel, and its postal history, since independence was proclaimed on May 14, 1948. The first postage stamps were issued two days later on May 16, 1948. Pre-1948 postal history is discussed in postage stamps and postal history of Palestine.
The postage stamps and postal history of Palestine emerges from its geographic location as a crossroads amidst the empires of the ancient Near East, the Levant and the Middle East. Postal services in the region were first established in the Bronze Age, during the rule of Sargon of Akkad, and successive empires have established and operated a number of different postal systems over the millennia.
The Palestinian National Authority began in 1994 to issue stamps and operate postal services as authorized by the Oslo Accords.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Germany and philatelically related areas. The main modern providers of service were the Reichspost (1871–1945), the Deutsche Post under Allied control (1945–1949), the Deutsche Post of the GDR (1949–1990), the Deutsche Bundespost (1949–1995), along with the Deutsche Bundespost Berlin (1949–1990), and are now the Deutsche Post AG.
This is a survey of postage stamps and postal history of the German colonies and part of the postage stamps and postal history of Germany, as well as those of the individual countries and territories concerned.
NamPost is the company responsible for postal service in Namibia. It currently has 743 employees and reserves of 2.51 million N$. The CEO of NamPost is Festus Hangula.
German South West Africa was a German colony in Africa, established in 1884 with the protection of the area around Lüderitz and abandoned during World War I, when the area was taken over by the British.
The South West African Zwillinge 0-6-0T of 1898 was a narrow gauge steam locomotive from the German South West Africa era.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Ghana, known as the Gold Coast before independence.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Egypt.
Postage stamps were issued in the South African-administered colony of South West Africa from 1914 to 1989.
The Republic of South Sudan became independent on 9 July 2011 from Sudan and issued its first stamps on 13 July 2011. Only almost three months later, on 4 October 2011, did South Sudan become a member of the Universal Postal Union (UPU). Before independence, South Sudan used stamps issued by Sudan. The Directorate of Postal Services of the Ministry of Telecommunication and Postal Services is responsible for postal affairs in South Sudan.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Eswatini, formerly Swaziland.
After 28 years without a postal code system in Namibia, the national postal service provider NamPost introduced new postal codes in December 2018.
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