The first stamps issued 1891 were stamps of Rhodesia overprinted. Nyasaland or the Nyasaland Protectorate, was a British protectorate which was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name.

The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, also known as the Central African Federation (CAF), was a semi-independent state in southern Africa that existed from 1953 to the end of 1963.