Republic of New Granada Republic of New Granada The Republic of New Granada was a centralist republic consisting primarily of present-day Colombia and Panama with smaller portions of today's Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, and Brazil. It was created after the dissolution in 1830 of Gran Colombia, with the secession of Ecuador (Quito, Guayaquil and Azuay) and Venezuela (with Orinoco, Apure and Zulia) and was formed by the departments of Boyaca, Cauca, Cundinamarca, Magdalena, and Istmo, all parts of the present Republic of Colombia. except Istmo, which is part of present-day Panama). In November 1831, those departments created the Republic of New Granada,
Postage stamps and postal history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Postage stamps and postal history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire and the Belgian Congo. The Congo Free State was established in 1885 as a personal initiative of Leopold II of Belgium, which was formally annexed, becoming the Belgian Congo, in 1907. Both entities issued their own stamps. In 1960, the Belgian Congo became independent as the Republic of the Congo. On 1 August 1964, the state's official name was changed to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In