FLAGS and STAMPS

FLAGS ON INDIAN PRINCELY STATE FISCALS -

2012-02-13T22:36:00.000-08:00

Alipura State Fiscals

By; Colonel Joyanta Dutta of Armed Forces Medical College, Pune

Alipura was a princely state in what istoday the ChhatarpurDistrict in the Indian state of MadhyaPradesh.

The fiscal stamps bore the coat of arms of the erstwhile Alipura state which hadflags of the state.

Alipura issued only one series of Court Fees andone series of Revenue stamps (general purpose).
Court Fee series

On some of the Court Fee stamps is handstamped indicating use inCharkhari state (not yet reported) - in the centre

Revenue stamp series

Also, one type of stamped papers is known

To be continued

FLAGS ON INDIAN PRINCELY STATE FISCALS

2012-02-12T01:39:00.000-08:00

Colonel Joyanta Dutta, MD, FISCD, FIPHA, FCCP of Armed Forces Medical College, Pune and an well-known philatelist of India has kindly agreed to contribute articles on fiscals related to Flags.
Here goes the first installment;

Do you know India had nearly 550 princely states andnearly 250 of this states had their own Court Fee and Revenue stamps. Many ofthese states were too small in area and population, so such stamps were issuedin very small quantity. Andeven major part from the issued stamps were either destroyed by governmentrelative agency (ies) or found in damaged condition. So, available quantity issupposed to be a minor part of the stamps issued. If you are collectingpost-independence, thematically or foreign stamps or say foreign currency notesor post independence notes or coins, thiswould be an endless collection because everyday new issues comes out andyou have to keep on updating your collection regularly.

On the other hand, if you are collecting Indian native statesfiscals, there is nothing new is going to be issued, thereby one can try andmake a complete collection, and mind you these stamps were not for public use. Allthese states had issued few stamps and we are still lucky that we can get thesestamps, though, as usual, most of the stock has gone to the UK and USA as there isa foundation which has invested huge money and collected Indian princely states'fiscals and have also published a standard catalogue specially on fiscals ofIndian princely states (Koeppel & Manners)

For lovers of flags Indian Princely States fiscal offersmany verities and I thought to begin with the whole exercise alphabeticallywith Akalkot state.

Akalkot was located in Bombay Residency. Akalkot had an area of498 square miles, with about 90,000 inhabitants.

Akalkot issued Court Fees, Receipts and

Stamped papers.

The first series of Court Fees bears the inscription Akalkotstate. The flag exists in several sizes (not mentioned in K&M). Note that thisCourt Fee is unused and this is rare

The second Court Fee series used changed spelling of state, now beingAkalkat state. Note the doubling of red color (the flag and denomination).

The third series included the flag in design and was not printed insecond operation as opposed to the first two designs

The fourth and fifth series are smaller in size and bearinscription Akalkot state or Akalkat state respectively. The fourth series isknown with perfin SPECIMEN

The Fifth Series

The sixth Series is for Receipts

To be continued

Wagah Border Sunset Parade and Beating the Retreat (Lowering of Flags of India and Pakistan)

2012-02-02T23:40:00.000-08:00

In continuation of my post dated February 01, 2012, I am pleased to add the write-up on 'Wagah Retreat Ceremony' sent to me by Mr. Dharminder Kapoor, Secretary of Amritsar Philatelic Club, Amritsar for the benefit of all discerning collectors.
Thank you Mr. Kapoor.

Attari - Wagah Border Sunset Parade and Beating the Retreat (Lowering of Flags)

2012-02-01T02:40:00.000-08:00

A special cover on "Beating the Retreat Ceremony" at Attari-Wagah Border issued on 10 January 2012, commemorating Amritsar Philatelic Exhibition - AMPHIL- 2012

The Wagah border, locally known as the"Berlin wallof Asia”, is a border crossing on the India-Pakistan border whereeach evening there is a highly stylised “RetreatCeremony” called 'lowering of theflags', which has been held uninterrupted since 1959. At that time there isan energetic parade by the Border Security Force (BSF) of India and thePakistan Rangers. At the first glance itmay appear aggressive and even hostileto the spectators but in fact theparades are imitating the pride and anger. Troops of each country pick some oftheir tallest troops – would strut furiously towards the line separating them,their one-foot high fan shaped turbans gleaming like crests. Almost when itseemed they would collide, the guards – the Pakistan Rangers in greysalwar-kameez, the Indian BSFs in khaki – would veer off with salutes that lookmore attempted blows. Then the National flags would be lowered, and the immensemetal gates slammed shut with a satisfying clunk.

In 2001 both sides erected grandstandsfor the crowds that gather there to cheer their respective border guards andhurl abuse at those of the other country. As cries of “Allah-o-Akbar”, “Pakistan Zindabad” rose from the Attari side,shouts of “Bharat Mata Ki Jay”, “Bande Mataram” and “Jay Hind” would erupt from Wagah side.

With the better and improving relationsbetween the neighbours the aggressive gestures during the ritual of “FlagLowering” undertaken at sunset while closing the gates at the border has nowbeen greatly toned down.

a file picture

An Independence Day cachet showingcrossed ‘India-Pakistan flags’ on the cover from the Indian F.P.O. 112, in Japan.

This is perhaps only the only postalcover where the flags of both India and Pakistan appear together with acancellation 15 Aug 1947”. The cover was conceived by the late Brig. D.S.Virk,“ the doyen of the Forces Philately inIndia.

Special postmark from Tashkent, dated 10 January 1967, commemoratingthe first anniversary of the ‘Tashkent Declaration—1966’.

ThePrime Minister of India and the President ofPakistan, having met at Tashkent [Uzbekistan SSR] and havingdiscussed the existing relations between India and Pakistan hereby declare their firm resolve to restorenormal and peaceful relations between their countries and to promoteunderstanding and friendly relations between their peoples. They considered theattainment of these objectives of vital importance for the welfare of the 600million people of India and Pakistan.

Long live friendships between India and Pakistan.

50 Years of Goa's Liberation and Battle of Iwo Jima Fake Photographs

2012-01-10T05:51:00.000-08:00

A commemorative postal stamp marking the Golden Jubilee of Goa’s Liberation was released on 19 December 2011in Panaji, in the presence of ChiefMinister Digambar Kamat and Smt. Manjula Prasher Secretary, Posts, Governmentof India.
The stamp shows freedom fighters marching with the Indian National flag in the backdrop of the lighthouse of Aguada Fort. The Chief Minister thanked IndiaPost and said the stamp captured the spirit of the Goa liberation struggle. Aguada and Reis Magos Fort located across the banks ofthe river Mandovi from Panaji was built in 1551 by the Portuguese, it wasformerly an outpost of the erstwhile empire of the Adil Shah of Bijapur. Freedom dawns on Goa, exactly 50 years ago as Goans hoist the Indian Nationalflag at Adil Shah Palace, to welcomeGoa’s Liberation from the Portuguese colonial rule of 450 years.
The Indian tricolour on the iconic World War-2photograph of the US victory in the Battle of Iwo Jima
One such Fake picture
The Goan newspapers of 19 December 2011 carried several advertisements on the great occasion of celebrating the golden jubilee which turned out to be a sheer nonsense , it was found the image selected by the Goan Government agencies is a FAKE one.

Theadvertisement showed Marines holding high the Indian tricolor in an act oftriumph. If you think the newspaper ad. wasto glorify and well up patriotism, youare terribly wrong . In fact the advertisements considered as an affront to our dignity.

Inthe recent past the same art work madeby some braindeads in the government agencies had revealed how an immortalphotograph that came to symbolize thecourage and indomitable will of American people in World War II in the Pacific hadbeen unashamedly vandalized. The 'Fake art work' was first published by the Defence Research andDevelopment Organisation (DRDO - anagency under the Ministry of Defence, Government of India) and now by the Goa Government agencies. Theadvertisements reduced all of us Indians into a bunch of laughing stocks. It seems GovernmentDepartments just won’t learn.

Heroes of the War inthe Pacific

The US stamp was issued just five months after theFlag-Raising atop Mt. Suribachi in Iwo Jima. On the day of issue, people stood patiently in lines stretchingfor city blocks on a sweltering July day in 1945 for a chance to buy thebeloved stamp. For many years, this was the biggest selling stamp in thehistory of the US Post Office. (Over 137 million sold.)

A retouched copy of the original photograph. Issued in 1995to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the first Iwo Jima stamp.

During World War II, exactly sixty-seven years ago – U.S. fightingforces displayed extraordinary courage and determination in winning the war inthe Pacific. But it was on the island of Iwo Jima that a singular eventoccurred that would come to symbolize for all time American valour in the longbitter fight against the Japanese. With Japan’shome islands sighted squarely in their minds, as the next target for Americanwarplanes, the U.S. determined that the volcanic island of IwoJima was vital to the US goal. The only island in its region suitable foran airfield. Iwo Jima was already the site of two operational Japaneseair strips, when the US Marines began their invasion on 19 February 1945. OnFebruary 23 – after clawing their way up Mt. Suribachi under relentless Japanese fire – Marineraised a small American flag on the summit.

The sight of the American flag 'The OldGlory' waving in the breeze evoked cheers from Marines.Offshore, U.S. warships blew their whistles in tribute. Few hours later,as a larger flag was being raised on the Mt. Suribachi, the Associated Pressphotographer Joe Rosenthal took the memorable picture of the event and becamethe most famous of the Pacific war.

The photograph was extremely popular, being reprinted in thousands ofpublications and came to be regarded in the United Statesas one of the most significant and recognizable images of the war, and possiblythe most reproduced photograph of all time.

Philatelic Exhibition on Rabinranath Tagore in Cairo,July 2011

2012-01-04T22:21:00.000-08:00

Here is an article written by Gamal Nkrumah in the Al-Ahram weekly on the Philatelic Exhibition held in Cairo, Egypt in commemoratoin of 150th birth anniversary of the poet Rabinranath Tagore from 5th July to 17th July 2011

		20 - 26 October 2011 Issue No. 1069 Culture
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

Contemplating the contemplator

Cairo's Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture staged a exhibition to commemorate Rabindranath Tagore. Gamal Nkrumah feasts his eyes on India's Philatelic treasures

Cairo's Philatelic exhibition on Rabindranath Tagore may provoke a connoisseurial smirk or a knowing sneer to the uninitiated in the art of stamps issued by the postal departments of around 20 countries from across the globe. Satirists look at life's conventional scenes and see panoplies of penetration and discernment. The most resonant images portrayed in the philatelic objects on display are the sensational portraits of the first Asian Nobel Laureate himself. "The progress of our soul is like a perfect poem. It has an infinite idea which once realised makes all movement full of meaning and joy," so reflected Tagore on encountering Einstein. It was the proverbial meeting of the minds.

Tagore exerts a hypnotic grip on his Egyptian audience. His spectacular posturing offers a tableau of an extraordinary sensualist and a subtle hint of sensationalism.

In a rousing address before the visitors to this exceptionally moving exhibition, His Excellency Ambassador R Swaminathan of India paid special homage to the Rabindranath Tagore Centre, Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Kolkata.Sekhar Chakrabarti whose rare philatelic objects from his private collection were borrowed specifically for this unique Cairo exhibition best expressed the mood of the moment.Magically, the exhibition was staged masterfully at a defining moment in Egypt's history. Tagore would have been delighted, one suspects, at the spirit that Egypt's 25 January Revolution exuded. "Tagore was a universal thinker even though he was also a symbol and beacon of contemporary Bengali culture," Sekhar Chakrabarti mused.

Gurudev, literally "Teacher" as Tagore was endearingly called, promoted rural reconstruction including traditional arts and crafts. Equally disparaging was the attitudes of the rich towards the poor. The immense income differentials and social inequalities, disparities in social prestige and economic wellbeing between castes and classes were the hallmarks of Indian society under British rule. That crisis touched him deeply.Tagore was born into a life of privilege and wealth. Yet abject poverty was all around him. Human suffering was an inescapable facet of everyday life in rural Bengal.All art aspires to the condition of creation. And, Tagore understood that truism all too well. His lessons cannot get lost in the cornucopia of kantha. What humans the world over find innately inspiring and touching has changed little over time. Therefore we can today emphasize with images made more than a century ago even when their original contexts have faded.The common themes are catharsis and the remaking of an individual's and a nation's vision.

The time for geopolitical caution is past. Tagore was received rapturously by Egyptians when he visited the country in 1926, and especially the cultural and political elite.

Bengal's celebrated bard spoke to a packed two houses of parliament and he had a memorable encounter with the foremost Egyptian poet Ahmed Shawki. It metamorphosed into a story of a friendship between two men of letters but who are from different worlds, but share common concerns.

Tagore encounter with Shawki was touching without going gooey, though. India and Egypt were unsuited for the role in which modern history had cast them -- colonies of Britain. Both countries were haunted by their great past and ancient glories and yet were bedeviled by the fear of a failed future. Yet, there was hope of redemption, of emancipation from colonial oppression and a yearning for a return to a golden age of freedom.

By many standards Tagore is one of the titans of modern India. His correspondence is of great importance both in the historical and literary sense. Few other poets can match his elegant, lapidary style and this shines through in his letters. "Receiving letters was an important impetus for collecting stamps in the past. Now everyone uses social networking and the Internet as the main means of communication."

In many ways this exhibition, of course, is perfectly timed. The lustre of the personal correspondence of Tagore has not been tarnished by the seismic events that engulfed South Asia like a tsunami. Bengal was divided in two, India was partitioned, and then Bangladesh seceded from Pakistan.

A constant menace in Tagore's long life was the peril of bereavement that was grotesquely inextricably intertwined with beauty. The beautiful ones passed away in the very apogee of youthful vivaciousness. When you read Tagore, you do have to contemplate the contemplator, sharing with him his loss and pain and the subsequent overcoming of anguish. His poems alone are captivating capturing the serene miraculousness of being.Tagore was not merely a starry-eyed poet. His sister-in-law Kadambari Devi committed suicide in 1884, a year after Tagore himself was betrothed to his beloved Mrinalini Devi.
Mrinalini Devi breathed her last in 1902, only to be succeeded by the passing of Tagore's second daughter Renuka in 1903. The death of his father followed in 1905 and then his youngest son Samindranath died in 1907. But his finest works were yet to be produced. Few thinkers of the past three centuries have crafted literature more pertinent than Tagore.

In Egypt we bury our dead. In India things are different. This cultural discrepancy manifests itself in all sorts of ways. Yet Tagore's magic was universal. He was, after all, the first non-Westerner as well as the first Asian to be bestowed the Nobel Prize.

Tagore did not see the tormented turn on the tormentor. In 19010 his magnum opus Gitanjili was published to international acclaim. This was the chef d'oeuvre that earned him the Nobel Prize. Tagore wrote a poem on Africa entitled Africa, the Sleeping Giant. His visionary insight was matched by his epic sweep.

Patriotic postcards of Tagore, like his prose and poetry, struck a chord with people all over the world. The suffering appalled him, the humiliating indignities of a subject people. He was sickened by the inexplicable inequalities.A mood of catharsis prevailed. Tagore espoused a universalistic spirit and he was by nature an internationalist. The Bengal's historical rich cultural heritage became, paradoxically, more entrenched in the poet as he became more conscious of the common concerns of humanity.

Heart-rendingly, Tagore wrote about life and death, suffering and enjoyment, beauty and ugliness -- life in all its kaleidoscopic facets.

His works were written for eternity, for his words speak directly to every age. They were told to perfection.As in so many areas of Indian life, the art of kantha reflects a down-to-earth culture. It is of the daughters and sons of the soil.What is so special about Tagore's secularist philosophy is the moral legitimacy lent mankind.

Whether it will benefit Egypt at this particular historical moment is more doubtful. Now and then one is struck by the antediluvian quality of inter-faith relations in India, or South Asia if you will. "Progressive intellectuals" and the powers that be often endorse the confrontational rhetoric of religious zealots, and those who advocate and espouse confessionalism and sectarianism. So can Egyptians learn something from Tagore? Ironically, the religious strife that is ripping the country apart has intensified since the Tagore exhibition was staged in Cairo. There were few things that made the great Bengali sage feel grimmer than religious-instigated violence.

The vitriol had a xenophobic edge. It is not just the interim post-25 January Revolution government that detects an organising hand behind the unrest in contemporary Egypt.

What makes this so jarring is that the legendary bard foresaw the division of his homeland, and tasted the bitter partition of his beloved Bengal. How could he deliver exuberance, vivacity and even euphoria in such a morbid setting?

Tagore stayed out of the political squabbles of his time. However, he was anything but apolitical.

Tagore was for emancipation, liberation of mankind and that certainly included womankind. "Rabindranath's role in the liberation of Bengali women was a seminal one," declares Kathleen O'Connell who conducts courses on South Asia at New College, University of Toronto, Canada. "Initially, he exposed the plight of women and argued for their autonomy through his letters, short stories and essays. Through his novels he was able to construct new and vital female role models to inspire a new generation of Bengali women. Later, by his act of admitting females into his Santiniketan school, he became an innovator pioneer in co-education," O'Connell concludes.

So why not keep going? Women are often fettered by the confines of tradition. Tagore championed the free mixing of the sexes and abhorred the Bengali practice of confining women to purdah. "It is only natural that men and women should seek amusement together. Women are a part of the human race and God has created them as part of society. To consider the enjoyment of free mixing between people to be a

cardinal sin, to be unsociable and to turn it into a sensational matter is not only abnormal, it is unsocial and therefore in a sense uncivilised," wrote Tagore so insightfully observed.

The muse of the moving image of Tagore's characters fill the kantha scenes. Do not expect old postcards and faded pictures of purists popping out of ashrams with sad and saucy lines from poets other than Tagore.

Tagore had no political axe to grind. It was in Bengal that the latent resentments and religious tensions that manifested themselves most bitterly.

Bangladesh fought a bitter war with Pakistan to attain its own independence and the quest for Bangladeshi emancipation and political liberation was inspired by the country's pride in its national language.

Kazi Najrul Islam, born in West Bangal, but widely considered the national poet of Bangladesh, considered Tagore his guru. He developed a highly stylized form of nationalistic, revolutionary poem -- songs to inspire the people. Ironically, his wife was Hindu.

People must be prepared for this possibility in Egypt as surely as in Bengal. Perhaps even more challenging is the refreshing of the traditional mindset in both Egypt and Bengal in a contemporary setting.

And, kantha just as surely as song inspires the Bengali people. Kantha work uses the "running stitch" to create beautiful motifs on fabric. Bengali women traditionally make quilts from old, worn out saris.

Tagore passed away in 1941, but his literary achievement is there for posterity, for generations to come. This is an issue that India knows well. And, this year Egypt was invited to share something of this understanding.

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FLAG POND Post Office, Tennessee. And. Death Spiral of America's Mail System

2012-01-03T22:44:00.000-08:00

This is further to my post titled "FLAG CITIES OF THE USA" published in this column on September 2,2011.

My friend Mr.Tony Mion and Madame Dorothy Mion visited Flag Pond in October 8, 2011 and made it a point to get a post mark from the 'Flag Pond Post Office' which is now fighting for its own survival along with another 3700 post offices in the US on the nationwide chopping list.

Madame Dorothy Mion in Flag Pond Post office on October 8, 2011.talking to postal worker, Cathy Shelton, who was very kind and accommodating.
The Flagpond post office is located at the beginning of Rice Creek Road, where Dorothy Mion was born and raised, about a mile up the road from there but, the community of Flagpond is a very rustic, rural, small hamlet tucked in the Appalachian mountains of northeastern Tennessee, on the border of the state of North Carolina. There is not much industry there and the populace mainly makes it's living with their fruit orchards and other agricultural means.
Below are some News paper reports and articles on Flag Pond Post Office collected and sent by Mr Tony Mion, a senior citizen of Columbia Station, Ohio.

The Home Place - A Special Supplement of the Erwin Record- May 10, 2011, Page 22.

The Erwin Record, dated August 23,2011

The Erwin Record, August 2,2011

And finally an article published in The Telegraph, Calcutta on November 21, 2011

Fifty Years of Non-Alligned Movements and Flags (1961-2011)

2011-12-26T04:30:00.000-08:00

Note: Colour shift (Yellow) in the first block of Sri Lankan stamps.

Stamps issued by Cuba and Sri Lanka in commemoration of 50th anniversary of NAM in 2011

Fifty years ago in 1961 the heads of 28 nations gathered in Belgrade, formercapital of Yugoslavia, to attend the first conference of the Non-AlignmentMovement (NAM). The Non-Aligned Movement is a group of statesconsidering themselves not aligned formally with or against any major powerbloc. As of 2011, the movement has 120 members and 17 observer countries.

The origins of themovement lay in the Bandung Conference, Indonesia, in 1955, at which Asian andAfrican states met to find common ground and agreement for future cooperation,and proclaimed anti-colonialism and neutrality between East and West powerblocs.

50^thAnniversary of Bandung Conference (1955–2005)

The first Afro-Asian conference of the newlyindependent states of Africa and Asia held in Bandung, Indonesia in April 1955.

Thepost-World War II period saw the beginning of the Cold War confrontation andrivalry between the superpowers. It was at this juncture that the Non-Aligned Movement was forged,putting forth an alternative vision for the handling of international affairs andthe resolution of international tensions. Rooted in the five principles ofpeaceful coexistence (Panchsheel),the movement stands for an alternative to confrontation.

The NAM movement’sfounders are considered to be India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru;Egypt’s second President, Gamal Abdel Nasser; Ghana’s first President, KwameNkrumah; Indonesia’s first President, Sukarno; and then-Yugoslavia PresidentJosip Broz Tito. All five leaders were prominent advocates of a middle coursefor states in the developing world between the Western and Eastern blocs in theCold War. Leaders at the 1961 summit agreed to promote world peace andcooperation by not aligning with either power bloc.

The phrase itself was first used to represent the doctrine by Indian diplomatand statesman V. Krisna Menon in 1953, at the United Nations.

Non-Aligned Movement Summit is the main meeting within the movement and areheld every few years:

NAM Summits at a glance;

First Conference - Belgrade, Yugoslavia, September 1961
Second Conference - Cairo, United Arab Republic, October 1964
Third Conference - Lusaka, Zambia,, September 1970
Fourth Conference - Algiers, Algeria, September 1973
Unissued (Withdrawn ?)stamp of Bhutan
Fifth Conference - Colombo, Sri Lanka, August 1976
Sixth Conference - Havana, Cuba, September 1979
Seventh Conference - New Delhi, India, March 1983
Eighth Conference - Harare, Zimbabwe, September 1986
Ninth Conference - Belgrade, S.F.R. Yugoslavia, September 1989
Tenth Conference - Jakarta, Indonesia, September 1992
Eleventh Conference - Cartagena de Indias, October 1995Twelfths Conference – Durban, South Africa, Sept. 1998
Thirteenth Conference - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, February 2003.

Fourteenth Conference - Havana, Cuba, Sept. 2006

Fifteenth Conference - SharmEl Sheikh, Egypt, July 2009

Sixteenth Conference - Belgrade, Serbia, Sept. 2011.

The Palestinian flag raised at UNESCO headquarters in Paris on 13 December 2011

2011-12-13T03:15:00.000-08:00

The Palestinian flag raised at UNESCO headquarters in Paris on Tuesday, 13December 2011 more than a month after its admission as a full member.

The Palestinian flag hoisted at UNESCO headquarters, over a month after itsadmission to the UN cultural agency. President Mahmud Abbas traveled to Paris to attend the event, whichis seen by many as a step on the Palestinians' road to eventual UN membership.

"President Abbas wants to show the importance he attaches toUNESCO," said a Palestinian diplomat. "And this is the first timethat the flag will be flown at the headquarters of a UN institution."
The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation says theflag-hoisting is a symbolic ceremony "to mark Palestine's admission to theorganisation" that takes place each time a new member joins.
The Palestinians were admitted to the body in late October, when the UNESCOgeneral assembly voted 107-14 to make Palestine its 195th member.

Indian Stamp issued on 29 November 1981 in supporting inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.

National Flag of The UAE, Part - V

2011-12-11T20:49:00.000-08:00

Part V - UAE Flag theme on stamps, by Kenneth Sequeira

In this part, we will see the influence of UAE flag and its colours on regional themes.

Gulf Co-operation Council League

Arab League and the UAE

UAE Postal Day

Sports

UAE Flag colours blended with other themes

(Concluded)

National Flag of the United Arab Emirates, Part IV

2011-12-02T21:41:00.000-08:00

Part IV – UAE Flag onNational Day Themes

By Kenneth Sequeira

The UAE flag has been featured regularly on the UAE stampsover the years. Below we are going to see UAE flags featured on variousNational Day themes.

UAE 'Armed Forces'and 'Air Forces'

United Nations

With Rulers of theEmirates

Paintings:-Through the eyes of Children

Unity and Pride

25^thSilver Jubilee National Day

35^th National Day -- 35 years ofUnity and Progress

(To be continued)

History of the National Flag of the UAE, Part III

2011-11-25T21:52:00.000-08:00

National Flag of the UAE, Part III:- Pre - Union Phase

By Kenneth Sequeira

Prior to the Union, the seven Emirates of Abu Dhabi, Dubai,Sharjah, Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah and Umm al Qaiwain were part of the TrucialStates, which then included Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.

Abu Dhabi FDC prior to the Union

The Trucial States traditionally flew plain red flags. Early in the 19^th Century, theBritish India vessels were constantly being attacked by the pirates in thisregion, hence this stretch of coast became known as the "PirateCoast". In 1819 the British Govt. dispatched a large fleet and within a yearthey had destroyed and captured every Pirate ships that it had come across andoccupied all the major forts in the area, including Ra's al-Khaimah.

Then in 1820 the British Govt. imposed a General Treaty of Peaceon all Arab Sheikhdoms along this coast and prescribed them to fly a square"white pierced red" flag instead of the plain red flags they were wearing on their vessels. The white in the flag would signify they had abandonedpiracy. This flag was however not acknowledged by all tribes, who changed thedesigns and proportions.

The treaty with the British Govt. was in 1835 upgraded to the"Maritime Truce" in which Sheikhs agreed to stop all hostilities atsea and this was further revised in 1839 and 1853. Because of this, the areabecame known as "Trucial Oman" or the "Trucial Coast".

Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah FDC’s prior tothe Union.

In 1960 the Trucial States Council was formed; its flag,with the traditional red and white, included a green seven-pointed star, forthe seven Sheikhdoms. Originally a flag was proposed with a nine-pointed star, asit was hoped that Qatar and Bahrain would also join the Federation; this didnot happen, so the flag only had seven points. In 1971 the Trucial StatesCouncil terminated the defense treaties with the United Kingdom and establisheda six-member federation; Ra's al-Khaimah joined the following year.

Ajman, Dubai andFujeira FDCs prior to Union

Air India InauguralFirst Flight Covers before and after the Union

Before the Union the each Emirate had individual stamps.

(To be continued)