Stamps and Postal History

WELCOME TO Stamps and Postal History
Large Map
The concept of this Website is to create a forum, an interactive cyber museum, where the postal history of the territory is compiled for the benefit of collectors globally. The Website focuses on stamps, covers, aerogrammes, philatelic items, registration labels, cancellation marks, postage due cachets and other postal markings presented in a user friendly manner accompanied by high quality images. Stories, philatelic research, statistics, earliest and latest recorded uses and other philatelic and historical information are associated with many of the items presented in the database. Most importantly the Website depends on YOU and your willingness to share your knowledge and collections with others so please take the necessary time to read the Website concept and the User Guide in the menu bar on the left. I look forward to your contribution.

Search Engine >>

  T I M E L I N E

I N T R O D U C T I O N   T O   A B U - D H A B I
Abu Dhabi first appeared in history during the 17th century, when the al-Nahyan family emerged as the rulers of the Liwa-based Bani Yas tribal confederation.

It was from the Liwa that Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa sent out a hunting party in 1761 to the island territory on the Arabian Gulf. The hunting party followed the track of a gazelle and ultimately saw the animal drinking at a spring of water. The party returned to the Liwa to tell Sheikh Dhiyab of their discovery, who decreed that the island should be named as Abu Dhabi - Arabic for The Father of the Gazelle. The gazelle subsequently become the national symbol of Abu Dhabi.

Some time after the historical event of naming Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Dhiyab directed his son Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab to move to the island (1793). He ordered that a village be established there and had a small fort built around the spring. This fort became the residence and the seat of reign of the Abu Dhabi rulers. Having been renovated and extended several times the fort finally became known as Al Hisn (Arabic for The Fort). This palace of the ruler, on the outskirts of today's Abu Dhabi, has remained the most dignified building and one of the main traditional features of Abu Dhabi.