CUBA

CUBA.

Cuba in a fragment of Juan de la Cosa's World Map (1502).
First stamp in a set of 4, issued on 12.11.1973.
Face value: 1 cent of Cuban peso.
Printing: Offset lithography.

Catalogues
- Michel No. 1925.
- Scott No. 521A.
- StampWorld No. 1929.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 2082.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 1725.

Juan de la Cosa (between 1450 and 1460 - 1510) was a Spanish navigator and cartographer who participated in seven of the first voyages to America. He is known, above all, for having drawn the oldest conserved map in which the American continent appears, a world map in which the "New World" is shown. Since the 19th century this map has been kept in the Naval Museum of Madrid. A line of text on the map says that “it was made by the Cantabrian cartographer and sailor Juan de la Cosa in 1500 in the Andalusian port city of El Puerto de Santa María”. Its rich decoration suggests that it was commissioned by a notable member of the court of the Catholic Monarchs. The indication of the year on the stamp (1502) is wrong.