POSTCARD N.131 - GAMBIA

Postcard sent on the 20th January 2024; received on the 2nd February 2024

Postcard image: Reproduction of a Portuguese stamp with Portuguese Explorer Alexandre Serpa PInto 
__________________________________________________________________________________

The Portuguese  were the first westerners to try to set up a colony on the margins of the Gambia river, in the 15th century,  during the days of Henry the Navigator, the main instigator of  the epic Portuguese maritime expansion.

As such, to see a Portuguese explorer, although from the 19th century, on a postcard mailed form The Gambia, does not seem to be totally out of place, although I concede that the connection isn't very evident 😀.

All this notwithstanding, I couldn't be more happy to be able to add this particular maxicard to my collection, something which I found out was only possible due to the generous help of an international consortium for which I Have again to thank Eric and Wilhelm. Many thanks to both of them!

Gambia is the smallest country of Continental Africa, occupying an 11,300 square kilometres strip along both sides of the river from where it gets its name.

Although small in size, the region saw many of its inhabitants falling prey to the infamous slave trade which provided the Americas the workforce needed for the  sugar and cotton plantations, some 3 million persons having been forcibly  captured and sent away to a strange land to work under brutal conditions, in the course of a period of almost 300 years.

Today, Gambia's economy rests heavily in agriculture,  cotton and peanuts being the main crops, but fishing and tourism are also two important contributors to the nation's GDP formation.

The British, to whom trade rights in the region were sold by the Portuguese in the 16th century,   were the colonial power from whom Gambia got its independence in 1965.

Stamps,  Left to Right:

The Milon's Swallowtail (Graphium milon) graces the 5 Dalasi stamp, of whih a pair can be seen on the card. It was issued on 14JAN2003, as part of a 4 stamp  set dedicated to butterflies

The Milon's Swallowtail (Graphium milon) is a member of the Papilionidae family and is endemic to the Sunda Islands in tha Malay archipelago.

The 7 Dalasi stamp with a detail from Rembrandt's "The anatomy lesson" is part of a minisheet celebrating the 200 years of the Rijksmuseum, issued on 15JAN2001.

The souvenir sheet with an 18 Dalasi stamp featuring a Great barracuda (Sphyraena barracuda) was issued on 28OCT1991 as part of an issue dedicated to fish wich included another one stamp souvenir sheet and 10 individual stamps

The 1 Dalasi break-van stamp is part of a 9 x 1D stamp minisheet issued on 12SEP1991, entitled "The world of caboose". The full issue included another two 9 stamp minisheets plus two 1 stamp souvenir sheets, in the typical fashion of the agency producing these stamps for the country....

The Viking longboat 15 Dalasi stamp is part of an issue dedicated to ships, dated of 15OCT1998, comprising four individual stamps, two minisheets of 9 stamps each and two one stamp souvenir sheets. 

The postmark indicates that the card was mailed from Bakau, a city on the outskirts of the country's capital Banjul, on the atlantic coast.