French Southern and Antarctic Territories (FSAT) /
Terres australes et antarctiques françaises (TAAF) on French

Fossils, continent drift, Paleoclimatology on stamps of TAAF

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Contents:

• Country overview
• Philately at TAAF
• Official stamps of TAAF related to Paleontology
• References

The French Southern and Antarctic Lands (French: Terres australes et antarctiques françaises, TAAF), in full the Territory of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands is an overseas territory of France. It consists of

• Kerguelen Islands, a group of volcanic islands in the southern Indian Ocean, southeast of Africa, approximately equidistant between Africa, Antarctica and Australia;
• St. Paul and Amsterdam islands, a group to the north of Kerguelen;
• Crozet Islands, a group in the southern Indian Ocean, south of Madagascar;
• Adélie Land, the French claim on the continent of Antarctica;
• The Scattered Islands, a dispersed group of islands around the coast of Madagascar.

The territory has no permanent civilian population. Those resident consist of visiting military personnel, officials, scientific researchers and support staff. ^[R1]

From 1906 to 1926, stamps of France were used in the Kerguelen Islands, cancelled by the Resident's cachet. Letters from there are known to have been routed via Madagascar, Cape Town and Durban in South Africa, and Bunbury, Australia. The TAAF was administered from France until 2004. Since then it has been administered from the Indian Ocean island of Réunion, a French overseas department. Since achieving territorial status it has issued a number of stamps, many of which depict wildlife of the southern oceans and Antarctica or honour polar explorers and researchers. ^[R2]

Official stamps of TAAF related to Paleontology: Fossils, continent drift, Paleoclimatology

01.01.1987 "Ocean drilling program O.D.R." [1]	01.10.1991 "Climatological Research " [2]	05.11.2009 "Landscapes" [3]

Notes:
[1] Continents drift shown on the stamp
[2] The right stamp is dedicated to Paleoclimatology with fossil of foraminifera, Fossilized microorganisms depicting on the label between stamps
[3] Booklet with 16 stamps of standard letter rate (0,90€ at the time). There are two Paleontology related stamps in the set: Glorieuses fossilized coral reef and piece of fossilized coral:


References:
[R1] More information about the French Southern and Antarctic Lands are on Wikipedia WikiTravel Flag Counter

[R2] More information: Wikipedia

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