Sunday 27 May 2012

Mapping the World

Hermes the winged messenger, patron of boundaries and travellers flies across the globe on this Australian stamp of 1948.  Flying from an island to Africa
and the landlocked boundaries of Chad over its flag on the stamp of 1966. With the Sahara Desert in the north it is not surprising that they have accentuated the major rivers in the south flowing into Lake Chad, the source of water for the four countries surrounding it (Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria).
A stamp of 1957 rather grandly called "Harnessing of the Yellow River", the various ways on the stamp are hydro electric power, irrigation, dams and levies to prevent flooding and ship transport. The river has been called the cradle of Chinese Civilisation but devastating floods throughout history means it also has the nickname China's Sorrow.  It carries huge amounts of silt which means the continual elevation of the river bed and silting up of flood barriers.  Harnessing the Yellow River is a continual project.  I would imagine the ships
plying its waters must have up to date maps.  Much easier to follow the rail tracks and signals in this stamp of
1956 celebrating the electrification of the Brussels to Luxembourg Railway link with a Type 122 electric train and a railway bridge on an elevated map.  Travelling to a sports event?  Here are two Albanian stamps

from 1966 for the World Cup Championship to be held in England celebrating the winning countries from the past.  The distinctive shape of Italy in the background with an Italian player heading the ball from 1934 and the first ever Football World Cup in 1930 held in Uruguay (and won by them), shows the back to the goal bicycle kick.  Always spectacular when it comes off.

An entry to Viridian Postcard's Sunday Stamps theme of Maps

8 comments:

Postcardy said...

Your map stamps are both interesting and educational.

Sheila @ A Postcard a Day said...

After seeing yours, I realise I don't always notice the maps on stamps. They tend to be part of the background. I had to study the Albanian stamps to spot the map.

Helen said...

What a great collection! I think the image on the Brussels-Luxembourg Rail stamp is brilliant.

Bob Scotney said...

It's interesting to see stamps that make you aware of the shape of a country for the first time - I had no idea about Albania.

Postcards Crossing said...

Joy, you have a fantastic map and flag on stamps collection! I need to accumulate more on this theme :) The Albanian stamps are awesome, too, they capture the action of football. The bicycle kick moves always generate excitement from the viewers.

viridian said...

Bicycle kick? this is new to me. thank you for sharing these stamps - it's true there are more maps on stamps than we think.

Willa @ Postage Journal said...

The Australia and Belgium stamps were amazing!!!!

Lisa B said...

a lovely choice of stamps for the theme, I'm thinking I may have missed spotting some maps as the designs can be so subtle. I like the Australian and the Belgian stamps very much.