Postage stamps and postal history of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland Postage stamps and postal history of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, also known as the Central African Federation (CAF), was a semi-independent state in southern Africa that existed from 1953 to the end of 1963. The state included the former self-governing (since 1923) Colony of Southern Rhodesia and the British protectorates of Northern Rhodesia, and Nyasaland. The Federation officially ended on 31 December 1963, when Northern Rhodesia gained independence from the United Kingdom as the new nation of Zambia and Nyasaland gained independence as the new nation of Malawi. Southern Rhodesia then became
Nyasaland in World War II African Campaign, where Nyasas fought Italian troops. Initially expected to disappoint in combat, the success of the 1st Battalion KAR in defending the Kenyan town of Moyale – where a hundred soldiers from Nyasaland held out against 3,000 Italians – rapidly changed the British opinion. In 1940 the 2nd Nyasaland Battalion participated in the failed defence of British Somaliland against an Italian invasion. The following year Nyasa troops participated in routing the Italian forces from Somaliland and Ethiopia. In 1942 a battalion from Nyasaland participated in the Battle of Madagascar, capturing the island from Vichy France. In 1944 four Nyasaland