Postage stamps and postal history of French Sudan issue of December 1958. It was followed by a Stamp Day issue on March 21, 1959, which omitted the federation's name and was inscribed "CF" along with "Dakar-Abidjan" for use in Ivory Coast and Senegal. French Sudan joined in a short-lived federation with Senegal in 1959, but ties to both countries quickly weakened. In 1960, the French Sudan formally became the Republic of Mali. Postage stamps and postal history of French Sudan French Sudan (Soudan Francais) was established in the late nineteenth century and occupied roughly the same territory as modern Mali. From 1894 to 1902, the colony of French
Greeks in Sudan El Ghazal. Business tycoon Capato soon expanded his business into Kordofan for gum Arabic and Southern Sudan for ivory, before going bankrupt after a series of misfortunes in 1912. Some Greek traders moved on to settle in the Belgian Congo, French Central Africa and other African lands. In Southern Sudan the colonial government preferred giving licences to Greek merchants, who would go to remote places like Jonglei, rather than to Northern Sudanese "Jellaba" traders. Juba, now the national capital of South Sudan, is said to have been established in 1922 by Greek traders. Another center was Wau, where already in