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The Zulu Kingdom was defeated in the Anglo-Zulu War and was subsequently annexed by Great Britain on 19th May 1887 when it was declared a Crown Colony.
The first European postal service was operated by a Natal postal agency at Eshowe opened in 1876 which cancelled Natal stamps with a “No. 56 P.O. Natal” postmark. The agency closed during the Zulu war of 1879 and did not reopen until 1885 when a Eshowe postmark was provided. “ZULULAND” was added to the cancellation in 1887 and stamps of Natal continued to be used until replaced by the overprinted issues on 1st May 1888. A series of ten definitive issues in the key plate style with a profile of Queen Victoria, inscribed “ZULULAND” followed in 1894.
Zululand was annexed by Natal on 31 December 1897, and the stamps of Zululand were discontinued on 30th June 1898.
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The 1887 Jubilee Issue 