HONDURAS

HONDURAS.

Year of National Sovereignty.
Soldado Bay, in Guanaja Island.
First stamp in an airmail set of 16, issued on 01.05.1972.
Face value: 0.04 Honduran lempira.
Printing: Offset lithography.
Printed by Lito Maia, Porto, Portugal.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 783.
- Scott No. C515.
- StampWorld No. 814.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 795.
- Yvert et Tellier No. PA469.

The Soldado Bay (Bahía del Soldado) is located on the western coast of the island of Guanaja, in the archipelago of the Islas de la Bahía, in the Caribbean Sea, north of Honduras. Christopher Columbus arrived on the island, precisely at Soldado beach, on July 30, 1502, during his fourth and last trip to the American continent, and he named it Isla de los Pinos; the island was populated by members of the Pech ethnic group. It was subjected to the Spanish, the English and the Dutch. In 1859 England ceded the archipelago (called Colony of the Bay Islands) to the Republic of Honduras. In 2012, the island was populated by about 4,500 inhabitants.

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Thanks to Daniel Mathieu for his contribution (http://lettresdumonde.blogspot.com/)