SPAIN

SPAIN / ESPAÑA.

Explorers and colonisers of America: Venezuela.
Map of Santiago de León de Caracas.
Last stamp in a set of 5. issued on 12.10.1968.
Face value: 6 pesetas.
Printed by F. N. M. T. (Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre), Madrid.
Stamp: 8,000,000 copies.

Catalogues
- Edifil No. 1893.
- StampWorld No. 1792.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 2001.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 1553. 

In 1560, a mestizo from Margarita Island installed a small cattle establishment in the north of Venezuela, where later the Spanish conqueror Juan Rodríguez Suárez arrived, who established the Villa de San Francisco there to defend the area from frequent confrontations between indigenous tribes. In 1567 another Spanish conqueror, Diego de Losada, populated the place and on July 25 of the same year he founded the city of Santiago de León de Caracas (Caracas was the transcription of the name that the indigenous Caribs gave to that region). Shortly after, Governor Juan de Pimentel established it as his residence and administrative capital of the province of Venezuela. In 1578 Pimentel designed the first urban map of Caracas, which is the one reproduced on the stamp.