Rwanda 1982 Belgica & Philexfrance International Stamp Exhibition - "Pygmalion" by Paul Delvaux

REPUBLIQUE RWANDAIS on 10 December 1982 issued four souvenir sheets in conjunction with the 1982 Belgica & Philexfrance International Stamp Exhibition. Among the souvenir sheets printed for this event was one entitled "Pygmalion", a surrealistic painting created by Belgian artist Paul Delvauxin 1939. Only 50,000 of these 60F souvenir sheets were printed using the photogravure method.

French Cameroon Lamido Woman Definituves - 1939-1940

FRENCH CAMEROON in 1939-1940 issued a set of definitive stamps depicting a Lamido Woman. Shown here are six in various colours and values

Japan Post 50th Anniversary of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Day

JAPAN POST on 6 August 1995 marked the "Hiroshima Peace Memorial Day" since the nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on this day in 1945 (20th year of Showa). Three designs were chosen out of 8,646 items collected in public auction for the "50th Anniversary of Peace Commemoration.

Saudi Arabia Post Rituals of Hajj - 1986

 

SAUDI ARABIA POST in 1986 issued a set of postage stamps on the rituals of pilgrimage (Hajj). In this set, each stamp was dedicated to the rituals of Hajj, such as: standing at Arafah, stoning the Jamarat, and performing the circumambulation around the Kaaba.

Hajj is the fifth pillar of Islam, and it is obligatory for every Muslim if he/she is physically and financially able. Hajj has a specific season in the last month of the lunar Hijri year named Dhu al-Hijjah. In it, Muslims make a pilgrimage to the city of Makkah Al-Mukarramah and perform a series of rituals according to a specific order within a few days. The stamps below display these rituals.

Ihram...

is the intention to enter into Hajj. One replaces  normal clothes with the Ihram garments. The ihram clothing for men consists of two pure white pieces of cloth that is not stitched. As for women, they may wear any covering dress they want without being restricted to a specific color. For pilgrims coming from outside Makkah, they must perform the ihram in specific locations outside the city. Ihram is the first pillar of Hajj.

Standing at Arafat...

begins on the eighth day of the month of Dhu al-Hijjah, called the day of al-Tarwiyah. On that day,  pilgrims must pray in the Mina area and sleep there until dawn. The ninth day of the month is called the day of Arafah.  On that day the pilgrims go from Mina to the area of Arafah where they stay from noon until sunset. Standing at Arafah is the most important pillar of the Hajj, as pilgrims spend their day in supplication and worship.

Overnight in Muzdalifah...

begins after sunset on the day of Arafah. Pilgrims leave Arafat and head to Muzdalifah, where the pilgrims pray Maghrib and Isha (two evening prayers, usually sn hour apart). Pilgrims spend the night in Muzdalifah and pray Fajr there. And the pilgrims collect pebbles in preparation for stoning the Jamarat the next day.

Throwing pebbles...

on the first day of Eid al-Adha, which is the tenth day of Dhu al-Hijjah. At the dawn of this day,  pilgrims perform the Fajr prayer in Muzdalifah, and before sunrise they leave in the direction of Mina, where they throw the pebbles (Jamarat). In this ritual seven pebbles are thrown at three stellae in the Mina area, symbolising Satan. After throwing the Jamarat, the pilgrims slaughter the sacrificial animals (either a goat, cow or camel) to be shared with those in need, shave their hair or cut it, and then they leave the state of Ihram.

Tawaf al-Ifadah...

occurs after pilgrims leave the state of Ihram. The pilgrim returns to Makkah Al-Mukarramah, and performs the circumambulation of Ifaadah, which is one of the pillars of the Hajj. In this ritual, pilgrims make seven counter-clockwise turns around the Kaaba. The Kaaba is a cubic building located at the centre of the holy mosque. For Muslims the Kaaba is an ancient house of worship built by the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) and his son Ismael.

Walking between Safa and Marwah...

takes place after the circumambulation. Pilgrims perform seven rounds of walking between Safa and Marwah, then return to Mina. This represents the number of  times Prophet Ibrahim's wife Hajar walked in search for water. 

Tashriq days... 

are three days from the eleventh to the thirteenth of the month of Dhul-Hijjah. On the days of al-Tashreeq, pilgrims remain in Mina and throw stones at the Jamarat.

The farewell tawaf...

marks the end of the days of Tashreeq. Pilgrims go to Mecca, where they perform the farewell circumambulation of the Kaaba, before returning to their respective countries. It is permissible for the pilgrim to perform the farewell circumambulation after stoning the Jamarat on the second day of Tashreeq. The farewell circumambulation is the last ritual of Hajj.

Deutsche Bundespost 20th Anniversary of German Resistance Martyrs

DEUTSCHE BUNDESPOST on the 20 July 1964 issued a First Day Cover with a stamp sheetlet  marking  the 20th anniversary of  the assassination attempt on  Adolf Hitler, which suddenly made the world aware that there was a German resistance against the National Socialist regime. Representing the numerous people who sacrificed their lives, the sheetlet contains eight commemorative stamps depicting such resistance fighters.

Featured:

20pf - Sophie Scholl was a German student and anti-Nazi political activist, active within the White Rose non-violent resistance group in Nazi Germany. She was convicted of high treason after having been found distributing anti-war leaflets at the University of Munich (LMU) with her brother, Hans. For her actions, she was executed by guillotine. Since the 1970s, Scholl has been extensively commemorated for her anti-Nazi resistance work.

20pf - General Ludwig Beck was Chief of the German General Staff during the early years of the Nazi regime in Germany before World War II. Beck became increasingly disillusioned and stood in opposition to the increasing totalitarianism of the Nazi regime and to Hitler's aggressive foreign policy. Public foreign-policy disagreements with Hitler made Beck resign as Chief of Staff in August 1938. From then on, Beck came to believe that Hitler could not be influenced positively and that both Hitler and the Nazi Party had to be removed from government. Beck became a major leader within the conspiracy against Hitler and would have served as head of state with the title of either President or regent ("Reichsverweser"), depending on the source, if the 20 July plot had succeeded. The plot failed, however, and Beck was then arrested. He reportedly made an unsuccessful attempt at suicide before he was shot and killed.

20pf - Rev. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident who was a key founding member of the Confessing Church. Apart from his theological writings, Bonhoeffer was known for his staunch resistance to the Nazi dictatorship. He was arrested in April 1943 by the Gestapo and imprisoned at Tegel Prison for one-and-a-half years. Later, he was transferred to Flossenbürg concentration camp. Bonhoeffer was accused of being associated with the 20 July plot to assassinate Hitler and was tried along with other accused plotters, including former members of the Abwehr (the German Military Intelligence Office). He was hanged on 9 April 1945 during the collapse of the Nazi regime.

20pf - Karl Friederich Goerdler was a German conservative politician, monarchist, executive, economist, civil servant and opponent of the Nazi regime. Had the 20 July plot to overthrow Hitler's dictatorship in 1944 succeeded, Goerdeler would have served as the Chancellor of the new government. After his arrest, he gave the names of numerous co-conspirators to the Gestapo, causing the arrests and executions of hundreds. Goerdeler was executed by hanging on 2 February 1945.

20pf - Wilhelm Leuschner was a trade unionist and Social Democratic politician. An early opponent of Nazism, he organized underground resistance in the labour movement. Leuschner struggled actively in resistance groups close to the unions and maintained contact with the Kreisau Circle, and from 1939, also with the resistance group around Carl Friedrich Goerdeler. After the planned coup d'état, Leuschner was most likely to become Germany's vice-chancellor; however, Claus von Stauffenberg's 20 July 1944 attempt on Hitler's life at the Wolf's Lair in East Prussia failed. As a result, Leuschner was arrested on 16 August 1944, and was brought before the Volksgerichtshof, where he was sentenced to death on 8 September 1944. The sentence was carried out on 29 September 1944 at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin.

20pf - Fr. Alfred Delp was a German Jesuit priest and philosopher of the German Resistance. A member of the inner Kreisau Circle resistance group, he is considered a significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism. Falsely implicated in the failed 1944 July Plot to overthrow Adolf Hitler, Delp was arrested and sentenced to death. He was executed in 1945.

20pf - Helmuth James Graf von Moltke was a German jurist who, as a draftee in the German Abwehr, acted to subvert German human-rights abuses of people in territories occupied by Germany during World War II. He was a founding member of the Kreisau Circle opposition group, whose members opposed the government of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany, and discussed prospects for a Germany based on moral and democratic principles after Hitler. The Nazi government executed him for treason for his participation in these discussions.

20pf - Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg was a German army officer best known for his failed attempt on 20 July 1944 to assassinate Adolf Hitler at the Wolf's Lair and remove the Nazi Party from power. Along with Henning von Tresckow and Hans Oster, he was one of the central figures of the German resistance to Nazism within the Wehrmacht. For his involvement in the movement, he was executed by firing squad shortly after Operation Valkyrie.

Source: Wikipedia

Saudi Arabia Post Al Madinah Al Munawwarah.

SAUDI ARABIA POST in 2006 (1437AH) issued a mini sheetlet honouring the city of Al Madinah Al Munawwarah. It featured images of Masjid Al Nabawi (Prophet's Mosque) and Roza-e-Rasool (grave of the Prophet Muhammad, SAW]. The stamp was valued at 5SR and printed by the Saudi Government Printing Department.

Above the chamber grill of Roza-e-Rasool (SAW),  a verse in Arabic from the Quran states:

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَغُضُّونَ أَصْوَاتَهُمْ عِندَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أُولَٰئِكَ الَّذِينَ امْتَحَنَ اللَّهُ قُلُوبَهُمْ لِلتَّقْوَىٰ ۚ لَهُم مَّغْفِرَةٌ وَأَجْرٌ عَظِيمٌ

Indeed, those who lower their voices before the Messenger of Allah – they are the ones whose hearts Allah has tested for righteousness. For them is forgiveness and great reward. (Surah al-Hujarat, 49:3)

Captioned to the left of the stamp, in Arabic, is the phrase: "None of you believes until I am dearer to him than his father, his son, and all people."

IOM 80th Anniversary Battle of El Alamein

ISLE OF MAN POST OFFICE on 21 February 2023 issued a set stamps commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the Battle of El Alamein (23 October – 4 November 1942), a key battle as part of the North Africa campaign of WWII and subsequent Allied victory over the Axis forces. The battle featured extensive deployment of local soldiers through The Manx Regiment, whom we wish to honour though this set.

Featured in the collection are:
-  80p - General Bernard Law Montgomery (1887-1976) was commissioned in the British Army in 1908. He survived serious wounds in the First World War and took over command of the British 8th Army in the Western Desert in August 1942. In paying regular visits to the troops in the front line and talking to them man-to-man he became very popular and was a great morale booster. The turning of the tide may well have taken longer without him.

 - £1.51 - The Swedish-designed Bofors gun was the British Army’s light anti-aircraft gun throughout WW2 and played a key role in the conflict. Firing a shell weighing about 2 pounds (1 kilo) at a rate of 120 rounds per minute it was a formidable weapon and was easily maneuverable.

- £1.92 -The American-built M4 Sherman first saw action in the Second Battle of El Alamein. Only about 250 were available but they made a significant contribution to the allied success. Subsequently many thousands were used by the allies in all theatres of war.

- £2.00 - Manx Regiment soldiers during a lull in the fighting and await their next call to action, Albert Bridge, Charlie Palmer and Thomas Russell of the 15th Light Anti-aircraft Regiment are playing dominoes and smoking “V”s cigarettes alongside their Bofors gun.

Manx Regiment Sergeant Thomas Douglas Russell hailed from Ramsey Isle of Man. His diary is now in the Museum's collection and has been used as research and source material for this issue.

- £2.80 - El Alamein Road Sign made from two oil drums, two wooden posts, a sheet of corrugated iron and a pot of paint were the simple components which make it one of the most instantly recognisable images of the desert war.

- German Field Marshall Erwin Rommel, Montgomery's adversary at El Alamein, (and normally not depicted on most stamps), is featured as a 'stamp label' only on the terracotta-coloured decorative pane of the booklet sheet.

Insightful information about the battle including the Manx Regiment's involvement, is included and  expertly written by Ivor Ramsden MBE, Director of the Manx Aviation & Military Museum.

Source: Isle of Man Post Office

Republique du Rwanda African Headdresses - 1969

REPUBLIQUE DU RWANDA issued on 26 May 1969 stamps on African Headdresses. These Rwanda stamps were designed and/or engraved by Oscar Hector Bonnevalle (1920-1993).  

The headdresses featured were:
20c - Tuareg Tribesmen    
40c - Young Ovambo Woman     
60c - Ancient Guinean and Middle Congo Festival Headdress      
80c - Guinea Dagger Dancer

Republic du Rwanda African Headdresses - 1971

REPUBLIC DU RWANDA issued stamps on African Headdresses on 15 February 1971. These Rwanda stamps were designed and/or engraved by Oscar Hector Bonnevalle (1920-1993).  

The African headdresses featured were:
20c – Rendile Woman
30c – Young Toubou Woman from Chad
50c – Bororo Man from Niger

1RF – Masai Man from Kenya (not shown)

Republic du Rwanda African Costumes - 1970

REPUBLIC DU RWANDA issued a set of stamps on African National Costumes on 01 Jun 1970. These stamps from Rwanda were designed and/or engraved by Oscar Hector Bonnevalle (1920-1993). While these stamps were initially offered in 1970, this particular set featured the overprint "SECHERESSE SOLIDARITE 1975" (Solidarity Security) which referred to the drought in Central Africa in 1975; hence, these probably was used as surtax stamps.

The costumes featured included:
20c – Tharaka Meru Woman of East Africa
30c – Musician with Wooden Flute from Niger.
50c – Woman Water Carrier from Tunisia.
1RF – North Nigerian Ceremonial Costume
3 RF – Strolling troubadour “Griot” from Mali
5 RF – Quipongos Women from Angola
50 RF – Man at Prayer from Mauritania
90 RF – Sinehatiali Dance Costumes

 

South West Africa (Namibia) Ethnic Headresses and Hairstyles (1st Series)

SOUTH WEST AFRICA  (NAMIBIA) POST in 1982 issued for stamps honouring the headdresses of four  tribes in Namibia, chiefly the Herero, Himba, Ngandiera and Kwanyana.

The artist who designed the stamps was  A. H. Barrett, who born in England, he immigrated to South Africa as a young man. He earned his living painting portraits, illustrating books, calendars, postage stamps and taking almost any commission that was offered. In three consecutive years, his work won third, second and finally first prize as Best Stamp Design, judged worldwide.

South West Africa (Namibia) Ethnic Headresses and Hairstyles (2nd Series)

SOUTH WEST AFRICA (NAMIBIA) POST on 25 May 1984 issued four stamps showing  Traditional Headdresses and Hairstyles (2nd series). The four ethnicitirs featured: the Eendjushi Headdress of Kwambi, Bushman Woman, Omulenda Headdress of  Kwaluudhi, and Mbukushu Woman.

Shown here are four separate maxim cards with each stamp, as well as a First Day Cover of all four stamps, all duly postmarked and dated.

The artist who designed the stamps was  A. H. Barrett, who born in England, he immigrated to South Africa as a young man. He earned his living painting portraits, illustrating books, calendars, postage stamps and taking almost any commission that was offered. In three consecutive years, his work won third, second and finally first prize as Best Stamp Design, judged worldwide.

Saar Defiitives - 1949-1951

SAAR in December 1949 up until June 1951 issued  seventeen definitive stamps representing portraits, industry, and landscapes. The legend on these new stamps was changed to "SAAR" from the "SAARPOST" utilised for the previous definitive stamp series.

The 17 stamps featured 13 different designs: building trades, Ludwig von Beethoven, gears and factories, dumping mine waste, coal mine interior, communications symbols, emblem of printing, pottery, blast furnace worker, Saarbrücken, rock formation "Great Boot", Reden Colliery, and a view of Webelskirchen.

Republique du Rwanda African Costumes - 1975

REPUBLIC DU RWANDA issued a set stamps on African National Costumes on 18 December 1975. These stamps were offered to commemorate the “THEMBELGA 1975” Philatelic Exhibition at Brussels. As with previous Rwanda stamps, Oscar Hector Bonnevalle (1920-1993) designed and/or engraved them.

The costumes featured:
20c – African Woman with Basket on the head
30c – Warrior with Shield & Spear
50c – Women with Beads

Deutsche Buundespost 75th Anniversary of Jugenstil in Germany

DEUTSCHE BUNDESPOST issued on 16 February 1977 three First Day Cover stamps to commemorate 75 years of Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) in Germany. The stamps were designed by Peter Steiner and printed by Bundesdruckerei, using an offset lithography method. The size was 115 x 85 mm.

The value of the stamps were 30 Pfennig, 70 Pfennig and 90 Pfennig.  A total of 11.125.000 blocks  were printed.

Namibia Ethnic Headdresses - 2002

NAMIBIA on 20 March 2002 issued two sets of souvenir sheets with six stamps on each sheet. Each showed the different headdresses of the ethnic groups of the country. In total, 12 stamps designed by Mary Jane Volkmann were issued.

On the back of each stamp there is a description of the respective ethnic headdress. In the first printing, the descriptions were printed in reverse. This mistake was corrected and few weeks later when the sheets were reissued with the correct description printing (although the "mistake" allows correct orientation when you put the two sides together). The version I own is from the first printing, but I have scanned it to show the correct orientation.

French West Africa (AOF Senegal) Air Mail

FRENCH WEST AFRICA (Afrique Occidental Francaise  Senegal) from 1935 until 1943 (?) issued eleven air mail stamps with different colours and values. There were two designs: a single-winged plane over a coastal landscape, and a biplane flying over a camel Caravan.  The printers were Institut de Gravure and d'Impression de Papiers-Valeurs, Paris, using a recess printing method. 

There was also a five stamp "Common Design Type" issued in 1940 for the French West Africa countries that also used the "Plane over Coastal Area" design, but with a white rather than a dark background for the country script tablet.

Republique de Guinea Tribal Masks

REPUBLIQUE DE GUINEE (EQUATORIAL GUINEA) in 1965 issued a set of 12 stamps showing traditional tribal masks of this West African nation. All but the 300F stamp from this collection is represented here.

Oman Post Omani Historical Personalities

OMAN POST on 7 December 2021 issued a set of five First Day Cover stamps recognising historical Omani personalities.

100 baisa - Ahmad bin Majid Al Sa’adi was an Omani navigator and cartographer. He was one of the best-known navigators of the Indian Ocean and among the finest scholars in the art of navigation and its history among the Arabs. He was the inventor of the magnetic needle (magnetic compass), which is used for navigation and orientation at sea. He was also the author of nearly forty works of poetry and prose. Among his many books on oceanography, Fawā’id fī-Usūl Ilm al-Bahr wa-al-Qawāid or (The Book of the Benefits of the Principles and Foundations of Seamanship), which was compiled in the year (880-895 AH / 1475-1490 CE) at the end of his life, which is considered as one of his best.

200 baisa - Abū Saʿīd al-Muhallab ibn Abī Ṣufra al-Azdī (c. 632 – 702 CE) was was a Persian weaver who migrated from the Persian Gulf island of Kharak to Oman before settling in the Arab garrison town of Basra in Iraq. According to this account, he was accepted by the Azd as one of their own by demonstrating his courage in battle. The Azd had dominated Oman (Uman) since the pre-Islamic era and hence were known as the "Azd Uman" to distinguish them from the "Azd Sarat", who were based in western Arabia. As an Arab general from the Azd tribe, he fought in the service of the Rashidun, Umayyad and Zubayrid caliphs between the mid-640s and his death. He served successive terms as the governor of Fars (685–686), Mosul, Arminiya and Adharbayjan (687–688) and Khurasan (698–702). Al-Muhallab's descendants, known as the Muhallabids, became a highly influential family, many of whose members held high office under various Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs, or became well-known scholars.

200 baisa - Sheikh Abdullah Al Harthy was born in 1886 in Mudharib in the Wilayat of Al Qabil in Al Sharqiya Governorate, and was educated by a few scholars of his time besides his father, Sulaiman Al Harthy. He was known for his wisdom in dealing with different aspects in life. He established the Agricultural Organization in Zanzibar. He participated in the foundation of the Arab National Association in Zanzibar and nominated as the chairperson of the association in 1940. He was selected to be the head of Al Falaq Newspaper (A national, social, political, and agricultural) newspaper that was published weekly in Zanzibar. He held that position during the 1950s. He was also known of his poems on faith and love.

400 baisa - Nasser bin Salim al- Rawahi, nicknamed (Abu Muslim al- Bahlani) was an Omani poet. He was born in Oman in 1860 and spent most of his life in Zanzibar where he died in 1920. His poetry is a good example of a strong link between art and politics. While the themes are centred around criticizing society and aiming to instigate revolution against people who do not follow Islamic laws, the techniques create harmony in the structure of this discourse. The author argues that this poetry is based on Ibādī suluk , which itself can be considered as an extension of the Kharijite trend. Although, suluk is linked with zuhd as a way of giving less value to this life, suluk has some other implications which do not exist with zuhd. Hence, suluk is not only a way of worshipping God, it is also a set of ideas which aim to change society and establish an Ibādī imamate.

500 baisa - al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi was born in 718 CE in Oman, southern Arabia, to Azdi parents. He was Arab philologist, lexicographer and leading grammarian of Basra based on Iraq. He made the first dictionary of the Arabic language – and the oldest extant dictionary – Kitab al-'Ayn ("The Source") – introduced the now standard harakat (vowel marks in Arabic script) system, and was instrumental in the early development of ʿArūḍ (study of prosody), musicology and poetic metre. His linguistic theories influenced the development of Persian, Turkish, Kurdish and Urdu prosody. The "Shining Star" of the Basran school of Arabic grammar, a polymath and scholar, he was a man of genuinely original thought.

Republic du Guinee African Heroes and Martyrs

REPUBLIC DU GUINEE on 2 October 1962 issued five First Day Cover stamps honouring African Heroes and Martyrs.

The honourees included:

- Alfa Yaya Maudo, was a 19th-century ruler of Labé, one of the nine provinces of the Imamate of Futa Jallon (a Muslim state ruled by Fula leaders), in present-day Guinea. He rose to power as the French began pushing into the interior of Guinea. This lasted until the French ceded part of Labé to the control of Portuguese Guinea, effectively taking away part of Alfa Yaya's territory. In 1905, the government of what was then French Guinea arrested him and he was deported to the French colony of Dahomey. After nearly a decade of imprisonment and exile, he died of scurvy in 1912. In 1968 his remains were returned to Guinea. His tomb is at the Camayanne Mausoleum, situated within the gardens of Conakry Grand Mosque.

- Roi Béhanzin is considered the eleventh King of Dahomey, modern-day Republic of Benin.  He ascended the throne in 1890 and ruled until 1894, when he was defeated by the French in the Second Franco-Dahomean War and exiled to Martinique. Béhanzin was Dahomey's last independent ruler established through traditional power structures. He led the resistance to French colonisation of his kingdom, during the Dahomey Wars.

- Babemba Traoré was a king of the Kénédougou Empire. Following the from 1893 until his death in 1898. The capital, Sikasso, was beset during this time by both the Mandinka forces of Samory Touré and by the rapidly advancing French colonial army. The neighboring Toucouleur Empire's capital at Ségou had fallen to the French the previous year, leaving the French free to focus on subduing the Kénédougou. In early 1898, the French began a major artillery barrage against Sikasso's walls; the city itself fell on 1 May 1898. Rather than surrender to the French, Babemba ordered his guards to kill him, an action still celebrated in Mali today. Samory Touré was captured in September of the same year, marking the effective end of West African resistance to French rule.

- Samory Toure, also known as Samori Toure, Samory Touré, or Almamy Samore Lafiya Toure, was a Muslim cleric, a military strategist, and the founder and leader of the Wassoulou Empire, an Islamic empire that was in present-day north and south-eastern Guinea and included part of north-eastern Sierra Leone, part of Mali, part of northern Côte d'Ivoire and part of southern Burkina Faso. Samori Ture was a deeply religious Muslim of the Maliki jurisprudence of Sunni Islam. Toure resisted French colonial rule in West Africa from 1882 until his capture in 1898. Ture died in captivity on an island in the Ogooué River, near Ndjolé on 2 June 1900, following a bout of pneumonia.  His tomb is at the Camayanne Mausoleum, within the gardens of Conakry Grand Mosque. He is considered a powerful example of resistance to French colonial forces and known for his building collaboration among diverse groups, as well as his war strategies.

- Thierno Aliou Bhoubha Ndian  was an important Fula author, Muslim theologian and politician in Fouta-Djalon, French West Africa. During the French colonisation of Guinea he became the principal judge of Labé, but he was replaced by his eldest son Thierno Siradiou in 1914. After the administrative reform of 1912 he was named chief of the canton of Donghora - a role which he accepted without enthusiasm at the insistence of his friends and supporters who feared he would experience the repression which had befallen other scholars in Fouta. He reigned four years and was obliged to abdicate in 1916. However, he continued with his cultural and religious activities, including a presentation at a conference of African scholars organised at Dakar by the Governor General of French West Africa.