Zil Elwannyen Sesel is the local Seychellois Creole name for the Outer Islands — a collective term for those islands of the Seychelles that are not on the shallow Seychelles Bank (Seychelles Plateau) which defines the location of the granitic Inner Islands archipelago to the east. The French name for these islands is Îles Eloignées. They are are located at distances of 143 to 715 … Continue reading Zil Elwannyen Sesel #25 (1981)
Today is the 13th anniversary of what is known here as either the Boxing Day Tsunami or the Andaman Sea Tsunami. Last year, I wrote an ASAD article about the impact that event had on me personally as well as the island in southern Thailand that became my permanent home afterwards. The earthquake that triggered this tsunami occurred at 07:58:53 local Phuket time (GMT +7) on … Continue reading Tsunami!
The British Crown Colony of Seychelles existed as a colony in its own right between 1903 until it became an independent republit within the British Commonwealth in 1976. It is an archipelago of 115 islands located in the Indian Ocean, northeast of Madagascar and about 994 miles (1,600 kilometers) east of Kenya. Other nearby island countries and territories include Comoros, Mayotte, Madagascar, Réunion, and Mauritius to the … Continue reading Seychelles #125 (1938)
Réunion (La Réunion), previously called Île Bourbon is an island and region of France in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar and 109 miles (175 kilometers) southwest of Mauritius. As of 2016, it had a population of 850,996. It is the most prosperous island in the Indian Ocean, having the highest GDP per capita in the region. The island is 39 miles (63 km) long, 28 … Continue reading Réunion #133 (1933)
I recently received a couple of letters from friends in Australia, the envelopes of which bear stamps of Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands along with those from Australia. These Australian dependencies in the Indian Ocean (as well as Norfolk Island in the South Pacific) have their stamps issued by Australia Post; these are valid for use in Australia and its other territories and vice versa. … Continue reading Christmas Island #233 (1989)
Mauritius was a British colonial possession from 1810 to 1968, the year of its independence. The island of Mauritius is of towering importance in the world of philately for a number of reasons. Its first two postage stamps issued in 1847, called the “Post Office” stamps, are of legendary rarity and value. They were the first stamps issued in any part of the British Empire outside … Continue reading British Crown Colony of Mauritius H&G #B10 (1878)
The Republic of Maldives (ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ — Dhivehi Raa’jeyge Jumhooriyya), is a South Asian island country, located in the Indian Ocean, situated in the Arabian Sea. It lies southwest of India and Sri Lanka. It consists of 1,192 coral islands grouped in a double chain of 26 atolls, along the north-south direction, spread over roughly 35,000 square miles (90,000 square kilometers), making this one of the world’s … Continue reading Maldives, Republic of #735 (1978)
British Ceylon (Sinhala: බ්රිතාන්ය ලංකාව, Britanya Lankava; Tamil: பிரித்தானிய இலங்கை, Birithaniya Ilangai), known contemporaneously as Ceylon, was a British Crown colony between 1802 and 1948. At first the area it covered did not include the Kingdom of Kandy, which was a protectorate from 1815, but from 1817 to 1948 the British possessions included the whole island of Ceylon, now the nation of Sri Lanka. The … Continue reading Ceylon #279 (1942)
A Stamp A Day 