Panama was formerly a department of Colombia and used overprints of Colombian stamps from 1878 until it gained independence in 1903. However, from 1903 to 1905 sets of stamps with overprints were still used and it was only in 1906 that the first printed stamps by the Panamanian postal administration were produced with República de Panamá. In 1904, Panama was one of the few countries to issue a stamp for the Avis de réception service.