Algeria’s stamp history began when it was a French territory, when in 1849 French stamps were used; these were overprinted for a short time in the 1920s before actual Algerian stamps were finally issued.
Algerian stamps were issued until 1958, when overprinted French stamps were used again. When Algeria became independent in 1962, the government used leftover French stamps for several months which they overprinted with ‘EA’. Soon after this, in late 1962, the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria started issuing its own stamps.