SPAIN

SPAIN / ESPAÑA.

Missions of the Capuchin Fathers in the Orinoco.
Map of a part of the Orinoco River by Pablo Díaz Fajardo (1733).
First stamp in a set of 5, issued on 12.10.1968.
Face value: 40 cents of Spanish peseta.
Printed by F.N.M.T. (Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre), Madrid.
Printing: Photogravure.
Print: 8,000,000 copies.
Size: 26 x 41 mm.

Catalogs
- AFA No. 1888.
- Edifil No. 1889.
- Michel No. 1782.
- Scott No. 1547.
- StampWorld No. 1788.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 1947.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 1549.

In 1681 the Catalan Capuchin Fathers were authorized to cross the Atlantic to carry out evangelization in American lands. However, until 1722 they did not obtain the first fruitful results. In 1772 two of them, Benet de la Garriga and Marià de Mataró, went up the Orinoco River, crossed the Gran Sabana and entered lands still unknown to Europeans, on the banks of the Caroní River; they were later joined by other religious of the same order. 28 Capuchin missions were established, linked together by a network of roads. Although the task of these missionaries began to decline at the end of the 18th century, the Capuchins paved the way for other religious and lay expeditionaries. In the first decades of the 20th century some missions were still active.

The map reproduced on the stamp was made in 1733 by the Spanish soldier Pablo Díaz Fajardo, who gave his name to the island that can be seen in the upper part, at the confluence of the Caroní River with the Orinoco, where the current Ciudad Guayana is located.