Chad became a French colony in 1920. Previously, it had been a dependency of Ubangi-Shari. In 1934 Chad, Gabon, Middle Congo and Ubangi-Shari merged into a single administrative unit as French Equatorial Africa. The Republic of Chad was proclaimed in 1958. A set of similar stamps were issued in 1961 in recognition of Chad's admission to the United Nations. One is shown. The capital and largest city is Ft. Lamy with about 250,000 people. The name of Ft. Lamy was change to Ndjamena in 1973.