2019-01-03 Thu

The West Indies Federation was a short-lived political union that lasted less than half a decade. Today, the federation is completing the 61st year.

On 3rd January 1958, various islands in the Caribbean that were colonies of the United Kingdom came together to form the Federation, with its capital in Port of Spain. The expressed intention of the Federation was to create a political unit that would become independent from Britain as a single state.

However, the Federation collapsed due to internal political conflicts over how the Federation itself would be governed. Hence, four years later, on 31 May 1962 the territories that would have become part of the Federation eventually became the nine contemporary sovereign states.

The stamps shown above are the first stamps of the new federation. Issued on 23rd April 1958, the stamps come with the denominations of 3 cents, 6 cents and 12 cents. The stamp depicts the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II along with the map of the federation.

Each state issued the same stamp with their names on it which can be seen at the bottom of the stamps.

Image Courtesy: https://www.google.com

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