Chad
Dinosaurs, prehistoric animals, fossils prehistoric human, Charles Darwin on stamps and postmarks of Chad
Contents:
Chad (French: République du Tchad), is a landlocked country in Central Africa.
It is bordered by
Libya to the north, Sudan to the east,
the
Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria
to the southwest and
Niger to the west.
It is the fifth largest country in Africa in terms of area.
Chad has several regions: a desert zone in the north, an arid Sahelian belt
in the center and a more fertile Sudanian Savanna zone in the south.
Lake Chad, after which the country is named, is the largest wetland in
Chad and the second largest in Africa.
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Regular letter from Chad, with dinosaur stamps from 2017, sent to Germany in 2018.
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N'Djamena, the capital, is the largest city.
Chad is home to over 200 different ethnic and linguistic groups.
Arabic and French are the official languages.
Islam and Christianity are the most widely practiced religions.
[R1]
Regular mail service in Chad began soon after the French occupation of the area, with a post
office established at Fort-Lamy in 1905.
The first of Chad issued in 1959 right after the country gained independence from
France.
[R2]
On the first years since the country gained the independence, Chad produced 10 - 50 stamps a year.
Between 1996 and 2004, Chad authorized Swiss based security printing company Impressor SA to produce and distribute stamps on the country behalf.
Impressor SA started to produce stamps of Chad in excessive quantities on topics mostly unrelated to the country.
Only few stamps a year produced by Chad between 2005 and 2011, but
since 2012 Chad produces several hundred (over 700 stamps in 2020) per year, this time by different agencies, include Impressor and Stamperija.
However, at least some of these stamps were sent to the county and could be purchased in the local post offices
and used for postage.
Official stamps of Chad related to Paleontology: dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, fossils, Charles Darwin
20.09.1966 "Tchadanthropus uxoris" [1] |
15.10.1996 "Dinosaurs", "Minerals" |
xx.xx.1997 "Dinosaur" [2] |
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06.02. 1998 "Cat and Dogs", [3]
12.11. 1998 "Dinosaurs",
11.12. 1998 "Fossils and Cave Painting",
11.12. 1998 "Prehistoric humans"
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27.12.2001 "Dinosaurs", "Fossils" |
30.10.2001 Charles Darwin
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19.07.2005 "Sahelanthropus tchadensis" [4] |
05.12.2012 "Scouts and Nature" |
14.01.2014 "Charles Darwin and Jacques Cousteau" |
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27.03. 2017 "Dinosaurs"
10.07. 2017 "135 th memorial anniversary of Charles Darwin (1809–1882)"
10.07. 2017 "Extinct species"
20.09. 2017 "Dinosaurs"
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30.03. 2020 "Dinosaurs"
30.03. 2020 "Fossils"
20.08. 2020 "Extinct species"
20.08. 2020 "Prehistoric water animals"
30.11. 2020 "Prehistoric men"
30.11. 2020 "Dinosaurs"
30.12. 2020 "Prehistoric animals-Megalodon"
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14.04. 2021 "Dinosaurs"
14.04. 2021 "Prehistoric humans"
30.07. 2021 "Flying dinosaurs" [5]
30.07. 2021 "Minerlas"
01.09. 2021 "Extinct species"
01.09. 2021 "Dinosaurs"
01.09. 2021 "Prehistoric Water Animals"
01.09. 2021 "Meteorites"
20.10. 2021 "Fossils"
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Notes:
[1] Skull of prehistoric human:
Home erectus,
Tchadanthropus uxoris.
[2] Overprint of stamps from 1996 with "Hong Kong ’97 exhibition" text and logo
[3]
Proailurus (prehistoric carnivore that lived in Europe and
Asia approximately 25 million years ago ) and
Pseudaelurus (prehistoric cat that lived in Europe, Asia and North America in the
Miocene between approximately 20 and 8 million years ago) on the top margin of the "Cats" mini sheet
[4] Hominid skull of Toumai (
Sahelanthropus tchadensis)
[5] "Flying dinosaurs" is not a correct term to apply
to the animals shown on these stamps.
The animals pictured are pterosaurs.
Pterosaurs are a group of flying reptiles in the Archosauria.
Reptiles in the archosaurs include crocodiles, dinosaurs, and pterosaurs.
Other stamps of Chad to consider: contributors to Paleontology, prehistoric animals on rock painting, prehistoric tools.
Legend is here
20.04.1962 "Prehistoric rock engravings in the Tibesti Mountains" |
11.12.1966 "Prehistoric tools" [O2] |
13.04.2004 "Famous Men" [O1] |
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Notes:
[O1] The mini-sheets are part of a larger set of “Famous people”.
George de Buffon (1707-1788) was a famous scientist who
worked on topics in
paleontology, biogeography, mineralogy and geology, and animal psychology.
The second sheet shows a portrait of Carolus Linnaeus, also known after his ennoblement as Carl von Linné.
Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778) was a Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist,
who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature and taxonomy using all biological-related sciences,
include
paleontology.
Linnaeus also dabbled in mineralogy, geology and anthropology.
[O2] These stamps issued in a Mini-Sheet and in individual sheets.
Commemorative postmarks of Chad related to Paleontology: fossils.
Legend is here
19.07.2005 "Sahelanthropus tchadensis" [FDC] [4] |
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References:
Acknowledgements:
Many thanks to
Dr.
Peter Voice from Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Western Michigan University,
for reviewing the draft page and his very valuable comments.