List of entities that have issued postage stamps (A–E)

This is a list of entities that have issued postage stamps at some point since stamps were introduced in 1840. The list includes any kind of governmental entity or officially approved organisation that has issued distinctive types of stamp for postal purposes. These include post offices in foreign countries and postal services organised by military occupations, international organisations, colonies, provinces, city-states and some revolutionary movements. The list includes members of the Universal Postal Union that are also listed at postal organisations.

Many of these entities are historic and some were very short-lived indeed. Philatelists and stamp collectors often refer to the entities that no longer issue stamps as dead countries.

The dates are the generally agreed-upon dates of first and last stamp issues. "Date of issue" is taken to mean the date when a particular type or variation was first issued but its usage would often continue for many years. For example, although an entity may have issued its last stamp in 1951, actual usage may have continued until 1960: in that case, 1951 is the last stamp issue date.

Besides the period of which stamps were issued in the name of a particular entity, the list under that entity also bears any other name in which stamps had been issued for territory, name of any other entity which had had its stamps used in that territory, or new names which had subsequently replaced the name of that entity, together with their respective periods.

List

The list has been comprehensively revised to include extra entities and to direct the links away from the country articles to the (proposed) philatelic articles.

Abkhazia

Afghanistan

Afghanistan 1870 –

Aitutaki

Aitutaki 1972 –
Aitutaki (New Zealand Administration) 1903 – 1932

Albania

Albania 1913 –
Ottoman Empire issues 1870 – 1913
Foreign Post offices in Albania
Occupation issues

Algeria

Algeria 1962 –

Andorra

Andorra (French Post Offices) 1931 –
Andorra (Spanish Post Offices) 1928 –

Angola

Angola 1870 –

Antarctic Territories

Antigua and Barbuda

Argentina

Argentina 1858 –

Argentine Territories

Buenos Aires 1858 – 1862
Córdoba 1858 only
Corrientes 1856 – 1878

Armenia

Armenia (pre–Soviet) 1919 – 1923
Armenia 1992 –

Artsakh

Ascension

Ascension 1922 –

Australia

Australia 1913 –
New South Wales 1850 – 1913
Queensland 1860 – 1913
South Australia 1855 – 1912
Tasmania 1853 – 1912
Van Diemen's Land 1853 – 1860
Victoria 1850 – 1912
Western Australia 1854 – 1912

Austria

Austria 1850 –

Austrian Post Abroad

Austrian post offices abroad
Austro–Hungarian Military Post 1915 – 1918
Austro–Hungarian Post in the Turkish Empire 1867 – 1915
Crete (Austro–Hungarian Post) 1903 – 1914
Italy (Austrian Occupation) 1918 only
Lombardy and Venetia 1850 – 1866
Montenegro (Austrian Occupation) 1917 only
Romania (Austrian Occupation) 1917 – 1918
Serbia (Austrian Occupation) 1916 only

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan 1992 –
Azerbaijan (pre–Soviet) 1919 – 1921
Nakhichevan 1993 only

Azores

Azores (Acores) 1980 –
Azores (Portuguese Colonial Issues) 1868 – 1931
Angra 1892 - 1905
Horta 1892 - 1905
Ponta Delgada 1892 - 1905

Bahamas

Bahamas 1859 –

Bahrain

Bahrain 1960 –
British postal agencies in Eastern Arabia 1948 - 1960

Bangladesh

Bangladesh 1971 –

Barbados

Barbados (Historic: Barbadoes) 1852 –

Belarus

People's Republic of Belarus 1923
Belarus 1992 –

Belgian Post Abroad

Eupen and Malmedy (Belgian Occupation) 1920 only
German East Africa (Belgian Occupation) 1916 – 1918
Germany (Belgian Occupation) 1919 – 1920

Belgium

Belgium 1849 –

Belize

Belize 1973 –
Cayes of Belize 1984 only^[1]
British Honduras 1866 – 1973

Benin

Benin 1976 –

Bermuda

Bermuda 1865 –

Bhutan

Bhutan 1962 –

Bohemia and Moravia

See Czech Republic

Bolivia

Bolivia 1867 –

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia & Herzegovina 1993 –
Bosnia and Herzegovina (Ottoman Empire) before 1878
Bosnia and Herzegovina (Austro–Hungarian Empire) 1878 – 1918
Bosnia and Herzegovina (Provincial Issues) 1918 – 1921
Bosnia and Herzegovina (Yugoslav Regional Issues) 1945 only
Croatian Posts in Bosnia 1992 – 1996

Botswana

Bechuanaland 1965 – 1966
Bechuanaland Protectorate 1888 – 1965
Botswana 1966 –

Brazil

Brazil 1843 –

Brunei

Brunei 1895 –

Bulgaria

Bulgaria 1879 –

Bulgarian Territories

Dobruja (Bulgarian Occupation) 1916 only
Eastern Rumelia 1880 – 1885
South Bulgaria 1885 only

Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso 1984 –
Upper Volta 1959 – 1984

Burma

see Myanmar

Burundi

Cambodia

Kampuchea

Cameroun

Cameroun 1915 –

Canada

Canada 1851–

Canadian Provinces

British Columbia 1865 – 1868
British Columbia and Vancouver Island 1860 only
New Brunswick 1851 – 1868
New Carlisle, Gaspé 1851 only
Newfoundland 1857 – 1949
Nova Scotia 1853 – 1868
Prince Edward Island 1861 – 1873
Vancouver Island 1865 only

Canal Zone

Canal Zone 1904 – 1979

Cape of Good Hope

British Bechuanaland 1885 – 1897
Cape of Good Hope 1853 – 1910
Griqualand West 1874 – 1880
Mafeking 1900 only
Stellaland Republic 1884 – 1885
Vryburg 1899 – 1900

Cape Verde Islands

Cape Verde Islands 1877 –

Cayman Islands

Cayman Islands 1900 –

Central African Republic

Central African Empire 1977 – 1979
Central African Republic 1959 –

Chad

Chad 1959 –

Chile

Chile 1853 –
Tierra del Fuego 1891 only

China

Chinese Empire 1878 – 1912
Chinese Nationalist Republic 1949 –
Chinese People's Republic 1949 –
Chinese Republic 1912 – 1949
Treaty ports
Amoy 1895 – 1896
Chefoo 1893 – 1894
Chinkiang 1895
Chunking 1894
Foochow 1895
Hankow 1893 – 1896
Ichang 1894
Kiukiang 1894 – 1896
Nanking 1896 – 1897
Shanghai 1865 – 1898
Wei–Hai–Wei date not established
Wuhu 1894 – 1897
Tientsin: Treaty port stamps from this city are regarded as bogus.^[2]

Chinese Provinces

Kirin and Heilungkiang 1927 – 1931
North Eastern Provinces 1946 – 1948
Sinkiang 1915 – 1949
Fukien 1949 only
Hunan 1949 only
Hupeh 1949 only
Kansu 1949 only
Kiangsi 1949 only
Kwangsi 1949 only
Manchuria 1927 – 1928
Shensi 1949 only
Tsingtau 1949 only
Szechwan 1933 only
Taiwan 1945 – 1949
Yunnan 1926 – 1933

People's Republic of China Regional Issues

Central China (People's Post) 1949 – 1950
East China (People's Post) 1949 – 1950
North China (People's Post) 1948 – 1950
North East China (People's Post) 1946 – 1950
North West China (People's Post) 1949 only
Port Arthur and Dairen 1946 – 1950
Shensi–Kansu–Ninghsia 1946 – 1949
South China (People's Post) 1949 only
South West China (People's Post) 1949 – 1950

Christmas Island

Christmas Island, Indian Ocean 1958 – 1993
Christmas Island, Australia 1993 -
Straits Settlements 1901 - 1942

Cilicia

Cilicia (French Occupation) 1919 – 1921

Cocos (Keeling) Islands

Cocos (Keeling) Islands 1963 – 1993
Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Australia 1994 -

Colombia

Colombia 1859 –

Colombian Territories

Antioquia 1868 – 1906
AVIANCA 1950 – 1951
Bolívar 1863 – 1904
Boyacá 1899 – 1903
Cauca 1886 only
Cundinamarca 1870 – 1904
Granadine Confederation 1859 – 1861
LANSA 1950 – 1951
New Granada 1861 only
Santander 1884 – 1903
Tolima 1870 – 1903

Comoros Islands

Comoro Islands 1950 –

Congo, Democratic Republic of the

Belgian Congo 1909 – 1960
Burundi 1962 –
Congo Free State 1886 – 1908
Congo Republic 1959 –

Congo, Republic of the

Zaire 1960 – 1971
Katanga 1960 – 1963
Ruanda – Urundi 1924 – 1962
Rwanda 1962 –
South Kasai 1961 – 1962
Zaire 1971 –

Cook Islands

Cook Islands 1892 –
Penrhyn 1902 – 1928, 1973 –

Costa Rica

Costa Rica 1863 –
Guanacaste 1885 – 1889

Crete

Croatia

Croatia 1991 –
Croatia (Provincial Issues) 1918 – 1921
Croatia (Semi–Autonomous State) 1941 – 1945
Sremsko Baranjska Oblast (Croatia) 1995 – 1997
Srpska Krajina (Croatia) 1993 – 1995

Cuba

Cuba 1855 –

Cyprus

Cyprus 1880 –
Northern Cyprus

Czechia

Bohemia and Moravia 1939 – 1945
Czechoslovakia 1918 – 1939; 1945 – 1992
Czech Republic 1993 –

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia 1918 – 1939; 1945 – 1992