Cameroon’s postal history began in 1887, when Germany, who had established a trading post at Douala in 1868, began using German stamps. Kamerun, as it was then spelled, became a full-fledged German colony. In 1897 Germany began overprinting Kamerun on their stamps. These are the earliest Cameroon rare stamps available for collectors today.
The first stamps issued solely for Cameroon came in 1900. Using the pfennig as their currency, German-issued Kamerun stamps had a nautical theme, depicting ships on the high seas in a variety of striking colors and beautiful designs. Germany’s Kamerun stamp issues continued in this vein until World War I.
After World War I, the colony was split between France and Britain. The British used stamps from colonial Nigeria in what they now called Cameroons. In 1960 they began overprinting these stamps with CAMEROONS U.K.T.T. (a reference to United Kingdom Trust Territory).
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French Cameroun colonial stamp
The French, who used the spelling ‘Cameroun’, issued several stamps during their colonization of Cameroon, and these stamps are the focus of many interested collectors now. Some early French colonial stamps were from other French-controlled areas, overprinted with CAMEROUN Occupation Francais.
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Cameroonian football stamp from 1966, shortly after the country’s independence from French and British colonial rule.
French Cameroun became independent in 1960, followed by the British area in 1961; the two regions merged into the independent, modern-day Cameroon. Since independence Cameroon has issued its own stamps. Collecting Cameroon rare stamps is great fun for many hobbyists due to the colorful nature of the nation’s postal history.
