Postage stamps and postal history of French Sudan 1931 became the most common. They include a Fulani milkmaid, the door of the Djenne residence, and a boatman on the river Niger. From 1944 to 1959, the French West Africa issues were used in the French Sudan. Various territories were joined in 1895 by the French colonial authorities in a federation known as French West Africa (AOF). These territories included Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan (now Mali), French Guinea (now Guinea), Côte d'Ivoire, Niger, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) and Dahomey (now Benin). The French colonial territories in the federation issued their own postage stamps until 1943. In many cases
Colonial Mauritania had been created in 1895, Mauritania was closely tied to its administrative structure and had its annual budget appended to that of the AOF. On December 4, 1920, by a decree of the Colonial Ministry in Paris, Mauritania was officially included in the AOF with the six other French West African territories—Senegal, the French Sudan, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Dahomey (present-day Benin), and Niger. The AOF was organized pyramidally under a centralized federal structure in Dakar. Directly appointed by the president of the French Republic, the governor general of the AOF came to have a great deal of power because of