Objective of the Book
With collectors of postal history in mind, this book provides an overview of the main routes, rates and regulations of the Southern African territories 1806 – 1916.
It is not intended to be a comprehensive study of these routes, rates and regulations.
Scope and Structure A considerable amount has been published on the postal history of the various Southern African territories, with much of it focussing primarily on the post offices and post office cancellers used.
This work is intended to provide an overview of the main postage rates for letters and postcards, along with some of the main postal regulations affecting them.
It includes the tax marks and touches only briefly on explanatory marks of all of the Southern African territories up to and beyond 1910, which was the year when the Union of South Africa was formed.
Time Period of 1806 – 1916 The starting point is straightforward in so much as the Second British Occupation of the Cape of Good Hope took place in 1806.
The end point of 1916 represents the time period when all the postage routes, rates and regulations were well developed and somewhat stable.
By 1916 surface mails were efficiently running, but the advent of airmail had not yet begun the major wave of change to the whole structure and concept of transporting the mails.