18 Whole Number 227
After that date there appears to be a slight increase in
the number of surviving covers, but it would be mis-
leading to describe them as readily available from any
time prior to WWII and the Pan American direct FAM
22 connection to Africa through Miami.
Mail originating in Africa destined for the United
States is somewhat more readily available. I believe
there are two reasons for this. First, as the United States
economy grew in the years following the Great De-
pression, more and more African businesses sought
parts and supplies from American firms. This gener-
ated an increasing flow of correspondence from Af-
rica to the US and significantly a correspondence that
was directly benefited by accelerated delivery. Sec-
ond, the demand by collectors for 20
th
century Afri-
can mail to the US has thus far been relatively light
when compared to the demand for US mail posted to
African colonies or the demand for very scarce 19
th
century mail from African colonies.
Map 19 A feeder route from Broken Hill, Southern
Rhodesia, to Tananarive, Madagascar was opened by
two French aviators in 1934. It also served places in the
NEXT: France Reaches Out to Indo China
Portuguese colony of Mozambique.
FRENCH FEEDER ROUTE CONNECTS MADA-
GASCAR
In August 1934 a feeder service was
launched by two French airmen that con-
nected Tananarive, the capital of Madagas-
car, with Broken Hill, Southern Rhodesia,
on the IA trunk route. The route also linked
the Portuguese settlements of Mozambique,
Quelimane and Tete (map 19). The first mail
left Tananarive on August 29
th
and arrived
in Broken Hill on September 2
nd
. Newall
reports that the first mail bag contained
1,200 letters.
4
Figure 70 illustrates a cover carried by this
feeder service during the second year of its
operation. Postmarked Tananarive on May
26, 1935, this commercial cover is addressed
to a company in Michigan. The franking of
5,50 francs was one franc short paid and so
noted in manuscript. A PARIS R. / AVION
transit machine cancel dated Jun 6, 1935,
appears on the reverse.
Examples of mail from the United States to
African colonies accelerated by air are not
Figure 70 Tananarive to Michigan with air carriage to Paris via the
common from the 1930s up to about 1938.
Madagascar feeder and Imperial Airways African route 1n 1935.
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