page_title: Postage stamps and postal history of Mauritania
section_title: First stamps
hierarchical_section_title: Postage stamps and postal history of Mauritania / First stamps
caption_attribution_description: Stamp of Mauritania as semi-autonome protectorate of French West Africa ("Afrique-Occidentale française", A.O.F.); 1913; definitive stamp of the "Crossing desert" issue; framed drawing with desert landscape as central motive; mint stamp with smooth gum Stamp: Michel: No. 17; Yvert et Tellier; No. 17 Color: dark brown / mauve to lilac brown Watermark: none Nominal value: 1 C (Centime) Postage validity: from 1913 until&#160;? Stamp picture size (printed area without below signature line): 35.5 x 20.5 mm
context_page_description: This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Mauritania.
  Mauritania is a country in North Africa bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest. The capital and largest city is Nouakchott, located on the Atlantic coast. It was a constituent part of French West Africa from the mid-19th Century until it achieved independence in 1960.
context_section_description: Mauritania's first stamps were issued in 1906. Before that, Mauritania used the stamps of Senegal. The 1906 stamps were the common design used in all the French West African territories, featuring General Louis Faidherbe on the low values (1-10 centimes), oil palms on the middle values (20-75 centimes), and Dr. Noel Eugene Ballay, a colonial administrator, on the high values (1-5 francs). The stamps showed both the territory name and the collective designation "Afrique Occidentale Francaise."
caption: 1913 "Crossing desert" issue of Mauritania.
exif: {}