|
Postage Stamps and the Cold War
Stamps were the principal weapon in a cold war between Britain, Argentina and Chile which lasted more than thirty years. It was sparked off in 1933 when the Falkland Islands celebrated their centenary as a British colony with a lengthy set of stamps which included one three penny stamp showing a map of the islands.
Argentina, which had laid claims to the islands as heir to the Spanish Empire, retaliated by issuing a one peso stamp in 1936, which showed a map of South America, with Argentinian territory (including the Falkland Islands) shaded. At first, this stamp also showed the boundaries of the other South American countries. This was superseded by one omitting the boundaries because of the sensitivity of certain countries, particularly Bolivia and Paraguay, to the delineation of their frontiers.
The battle switched to the Antarctic in 1944 when Britain arranged to separate issues of stamps to be made in Graham Land, South Georgia, South Orkneys and South Shetland, followed by a joint issue for the Falkland Islands Dependencies in 1946 showing a map of the Polar Regions with British Territory delineated.
Again Argentina retaliated by issuing various stamps depicting maps of Argentina and her Antarctic possessions. The first of these appeared in 1947 and commemorated the forty-third anniversary of the first Argentinian Antarctic mail. Even the pre-war one peso stamp was redesigned to show the Antarctic territory, and in 1954, a stamp honoured the ‘Orcadas del Sur’ as the Argentinians called the South Orkneys.
Although territorial claims in the Antarctic were suspended under the terms of the Antarctic Treaty of 1961, both sides continued to snipe at each other philatelically. Many of the stamps of South Georgia, British Antarctic Territory, the Falkland Islands and its dependencies have featured maps stating unequivocally British sovereignty. Equally, Argentina has continued to depict its Antarctic Territory on postage stamps and, in 1964, issued a set of three stamps featuring maps of the Antarctic and ‘Islas Malvinas’ (the Falkland Islands) with Argentinian flags superimposed.
Chile’s claim to a slice of Antarctica, overlapping with those of Britain and Argentina, was registered by stamps issued between 1947 and 1958.
Although the Cold War was definitely regarded as a major concern between USSR and USA following World War II, there was a significant cold war billowing on the philatelic front between Britain, Argentina and Chile.
|
