British Empire

These stamps from my album pictured here (catalogue values of $11, $13) are the second commemoratives issued by Canada.The same stamp was issued with two different background colours (and several variations) for Christmas 1898. Since they were issed for Christmas, they are relatively common despite only being used for a short time.


These are also the first stamps after confederation (in 31 years) issued without a picture of Queen Victoria. The image highlights all of the countries in the British Empire and is titled: "We hold a vaster empire than has been". 


In Socials 10, we talk about the concept of "imperialism" (definition: Empire building) and the difference between the terms imperialism, colonialism, and mercantilism. Canada was a large part of this empire that peaked around this time.