ARGENTINA

ARGENTINA.

Definitive stamps. Iguazu Falls.
Stamp issued on 01.12.1955.
Face value: Argentine pesos moneda nacional.
Design: Renato Garrasi (Garassi?, 1915-1990?).
Engraving: Volumnio Cerichelli.
Printing: Recess.
Printed by Casa de Moneda de la Nación, Buenos Aires.
Size: 44 x 34 mm.

Catalogues
- Cefiloza No. 722.
- Götig and Jalil No. 1052.
- Michel No. 628.
- Scott No. 639a.
- StampWorld No. 650.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 875a.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 549.

Iguazu Falls (in Spanish, Cataratas del Iguazú; in Guarani, Chororõ Yguasu; in Portuguese, Cataratas do Iguaçu), formed by the Iguazu River on the border of the Argentine province of Misiones and the Brazilian state of Paraná, are the largest in the world. Most of the falls (80%) are on the Argentine side, and at its confluence with the San Antonio River, the Iguazu River serves as the border between Argentina and Brazil. The falls have different heights; the largest is 82 m (269 ft). Its average flow is 1,756 m³ per second (62,010 ft³/s). The first European to register the existence of the falls was the Spanish Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1542, who called them “Saltos de Santa María”; However, the first to spot them had been Aleixo García, a castaway from the expedition of Juan Díaz de Solís, in 1524, when he crossed that region in search of the Sierra de la Plata. In 1934 the Argentine government established the Iguazú National Park, which was declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1984.