Niger,
officially the Republic
of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the
Niger River. Niger became independent from France
in 1960 and experienced
single-party and military rule until 1991. Niger covers a land area of
almost 1,270,000 km2,
making it the largest country in West Africa, with over 80 percent of
its land area covered by the Sahara Desert. The country's predominantly
Islamic population of 17 Mio. people about is mostly clustered in the
far south and west of the country. The capital city is Niamey, located
in the far-southwest corner of Niger. Niger is a developing
country, and is consistently one of the lowest-ranked in the United
Nations' Human Development Index. Much of the non-desert portions of
the country are threatened by periodic drought and desertification. The
economy is concentrated around subsistence and some export agriculture
clustered in the more fertile south, and the export of raw materials,
especially uranium ore. Niger faces serious challenges to development
due to its landlocked position, desert terrain, high fertility rates
and resulting overpopulation without birth control, poor education and
poverty of its people, lack of infrastructure, poor health care, and
environmental degradation. [R1]
In 1920, Niger was separated
from Upper Senegal & Niger and
became
a separate colony. The first stamps used in the new colony
were
stamps of Upper Senegal and Niger overprinted TERRITOIRE DU NIGER in
1921. The same stamps were surcharged in 1922. From 1926,
stamps
marked prominently NIGER and in smaller letters AFRIQUE OCCIDENTALE
FRANCAISE were issued.
The first stamps of Niger as an autonomous republic were issued in 1959
and are marked Republique du Niger. Stamps up to the 1970s
tended
to be large engraved issues similar to other former French colonies,
including stamps featuring famous paintings like those of France.
Later, more cheaply produced stamps were issued but designs continue to
be large pictorials, typically of local relevance with some issues
designed to appeal internationally to thematic stamp collectors. [R2]
In
2013 Niger became a client of Stamperija
agency who start produce many hundreds stamps every year on
behalf of Niger.
Official stamps of
Niger related to Paleontology: Fossils, dinosaurs, prehistoric animals
and humans
12.05.2017 "Extinct animals"
03.07.2017 "Dinosaurs"
03.07.2017 "Stamps on stamps"
20.11.2017 "Prehistoric water animals"
20.11.2017 "135 anniversay since death of Charles Darwin"
28.12.2017 "Flying dinosaurs" [3]
24.04.2018 "Dinosaurs"
24.10.2018 "Prehistoric flying animals"
24.10.2018 "Prehistoric water animals"
27.02.2019 "Dinosaurs"
27.02.2019 "Meteorites"
27.02.2019 "210th anniversary of Charles Darwin"
27.02.2019 "Flying Dinosaurs" [3]
27.02.2019 "Shells and Fossils "
27.02.2019 "Extinct animals "
26.06.2019 "Dinosaurs"
12.07.2019 "African Union Conference – Niger 2019"
20.12.2019 "Dinosaurs"
[1] One stamp from the set shows dinosaur skeleton, Ouranosaurus nigeriensis
[2] Skull of prehistoric crocodyl Sarcosuchus Imperator that lived 112 million years ago, depicting on yellow stamp
[3] Dinosaurs are terrestrial animals per definition, therefore the title of Flying Dinosaurs is nonsense. Flying reptiles called Pterosaurs.
References:
[R1] More information about Niger are on WikipediaWikiTravelFlagCounter [R2] Some information about
postal history of Niger on Wikipedia
Links to Niger post authority and stamps catalog websites are here