UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES / ٱلْإِمَارَاتُ ٱلْعَرَبِيَّةُ ٱلْمُتَّحِدَةُ

Definitive stamps. 
Khor Fakkan (Sharjah).
Last stamp in a set of 6, issued on 01.01.1973.
Face value: 75 UAE fils.
Printing: Offset lithography.
Size: 49 x 33 mm.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 6.
- Scott No. 18.
- StampWorld No. 6
- Stanley Gibbons No. 6.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 6.

Khor Fakkan (Arabic: خَوْر فَكَّان) is a city and exclave of the Emirate of Sharjah, located on the east coast of the United Arab Emirates, facing the Gulf of Oman, between the Shumayliyah Mountains and the Arabian Sea, and geographically surrounded by the Emirate of Fujairah. It is located in a bay, and is the only natural deep-water port in the region and one of the major container ports in the UAE, opened in 1979. The place has a long history of human settlement, and there have been found archaeological remains dating from the third to the first millennium BC. The city was captured by the Portuguese in the 16th century and was known as Corfacão. It was part of a series of fortified cities that Portugal had to control access to the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. In 1623 the Persian army tried to conquer the city, but was expelled by the Portuguese. However, in 1737, after the Portuguese had been driven out of Arabia, the Persians re-invaded Khor Fakkan with the help of the Dutch. In 1765, the city already belonged to a sheikh of Al Qasimi, the ruling family of Sharjah. Currently, the city has about 40,000 inhabitants.

OMAN

OMAN / عمان

Empty Quarter Saudi Arabia.
Map of State of Oman and dromedary camel (Camelus dromedarius).
Cindarella (unrecognized issue), 1968.
Face value: 3 B.
Size: 34.3 x 44.3 mm.

This stamps was issued by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman. The “State of Oman” was based in the Green Mountains (Al Jabal al Akhdar) area of Oman and the region of Dhofar south of Oman, and Nizwa was the rebel capital. The Marxist Popular Front for the Liberation of the Occupied Arab Gulf (later called the Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman; PFLO) gained control of the growing rebellion by the late 1960s with the aid of the People’s Republic of China, the Soviet Union, Marxist South Yemen (which had achieved independence from the British in late 1967), and Iraq.

DHOFAR

DHOFAR / ظُفَار

First definitive stamps, considered cindarellas.
Map: location of Dhofar on the Arabian Peninsula.
First stamp in a set of 8, issued on 30.04.1972.
Face value: 20 Imani balsa.

Dhofar (or Dhufar, ظُفَار) is currently one of the governorates of Oman, with an area of 99,300 km² (38,300 sq mi) and 408,419 inhabitants (September 2021). In 1963 the Dhofar Liberation Front, of communist ideology, was formed, which rebelled against the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman with the aim of creating an independent state, free from the government of the Omani Sultan. The rebels also intended to end British influence in the Persian Gulf region. This led to a war (Dhofar War or Omani Civil War) that began on June 9 of that year and lasted until March 11, 1976. The rebels had the support of South Yemen, the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. Eventually, the Omani Armed Forces, with the support of Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom, defeated Dhorfar guerrillas and the territory rejoined the Sultanate of Oman.

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Thanks to Dragan Buškulić for his contribution (https://worldofstamp2.wordpress.com/).

INDIA

INDIA / भारत.

First South Asian Regional Cooperation Meeting.
Map of South Asian region.
First stamp in a set of 2, issued on 08.12.1985.
Face value: 1 Indian rupee.
Printing: Photogravure.
Printed by Security Printing Press, Nasik.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 1038.
- Scott No. 1104.
- StampWorld No. 1041.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 1172.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 853.

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is the regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union of states in South Asia. Its member states are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The Association was founded in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 8 December 1985 (as this stamp commemorates) by seven states (Afghanistan joined in 2005). Its secretariat is based in Kathmandu, Nepal. The organization promotes development of economic and regional integration. It launched the South Asian Free Trade Area in 2006. The SAARC maintains permanent diplomatic relations at the United Nations as an observer and has developed links with multilateral entities, including the European Union.

FRENCH SOMALILAND

FRENCH SOMALILAND / CÔTE FRANÇAISE DES SOMALIS (now DJIBOUTI).

Post of Khor Angar.
Second stamp in a set of 3, issued on 06.10.1947.
Face value: 60 cents of French Somaliland franc.
Printing: Photogravure.

Catalogues
- Michel No. 289.
- Scott No. 252.
- StampWorld No. 289.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 397.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 268.

Khor Angar (Khôr ʽAngar, in Arabic خور أنغار) is a strategic location on the coast of the Bab el Mandeb, the strait that separates the Red Sea from the Gulf of Aden, in the Arabian Sea (Indian Ocean). It is located in a desert area, very dry and hot, of the Obock region, converted in 1884 into a French colony, which extended to the entire so-called French Coast of the Somalis (French Somaliland). From 1967 the colony was called the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas until June 27, 1977 when the independence of the Republic of Djibouti was proclaimed.