French West Africa

French West Africa, or Afrique Occidentale française (AOF) was a supercolony or federation of several separate French colonial territories in Western Africa. Over time, it included:
 * Dahomey (now Benin)
 * French Guinea (now Guinea)
 * French Sudan (now Mali)
 * Ivory Coast
 * Mauritania
 * Niger
 * Senegal
 * Togo (French Togoland)
 * Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso)
 * the enclaves of Forcados and Badjibo (in Nigeria), leased from the British until 1933.

Formally constructed in 1904, the individual colonies issued their own stamps until 1943. Those stamps were typically inscribed "AOF" or "AFRIQUE OCCIDENTALE FRANÇAISE" in addition to the country name. Also in 1945, the Louis XI stamp of France was overprinted AOF. In 1945, the colonial airmail series was released, followed by the expected run of omnibus issues like the 1945 Victory and 1946 Chad to Rhine sets.  File:AOF Muar surch.jpg|1943 3.50fr surcharge on Mauritanian stamp. File:AOF Senegal surch.jpg|1943 5.50fr surcharge on Senegalese stamp. File:AOF soldiers.jpg|1945 3fr colonial soldiers stamp. File:AOF pack train.jpg|1947 1fr mule train definitive, captioned "Senegal" below design. File:French West Africa UPU.jpg|1949 UPU issue. File:AOF Baobab.jpg|1954 200fr baobab tree airmail. File:AOF official.jpg|1958 1fr official. 
 * In 1943, French West Africa's first issues were stamps of Senegal and Mauritania surcharged with new values.
 * In 1945, the colonial soldier issue was released, inscribed AFRIQUE OCCIDENTALE FRANÇAISE.
 * Meanwhile, in 1947, an engraved pictorial series of definitives was issued. The values bear the colony name related to the image below the design.
 * Engraved postage dues appeared in 1947, too.
 * In 1958, a set of officials featuring various masks was released.
 * Meanwhile, the various colonial omnibus issues continued, along with a number of pictorials.
 * The component colonies became autonomous in 1958 marking the end of French West Africa.

[[Category:F]]