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
History of Sudan 19th century, and established a province [[Equatoria]] in southern Sudan to further this aim, it was unable to establish effective control over the area. In the later years of the Turkiyah, [[United Kingdom|British]] missionaries traveled from modern-day [[Kenya]] into the Sudan to convert the local tribes to Christianity. [[File:1875 slave merchant Khartoum.jpeg|thumb|200px|A typical slave merchant of Khartoum, 1875]] In 1881, a religious leader named [[Muhammad Ahmad]] proclaimed himself the [[Mahdi]] ("guided one") and began a war to unify the tribes in western and central Sudan. His followers took the name "[[Ansar (Sudan)|Ansar]]s" ("followers") which they continue to use today, in