BRAZIL

BRAZIL / BRASIL.

Tourism.
Dedo de Deus, Rio de Janeiro, and location map.
Second stamp in a set of 2, issued on 06.07.1991.
Face value: 350 Brazilian cruzeiros.
Design: Lúcia TV Ramos & Álvaro A. Martins.
Printed by Casa da Moeda do Brasil.
Printing: Offset lithography.
Print: 2,125,000 copies.
Size: 44 x 26 mm.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 2423.
- Scott No. 2323.
- StampWorld No. 2445.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 2488.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 2028.

The Dedo de Deus (“Finger of God”) is a peak at 1,692 m (5,551 ft) in altitude whose outline resembles a hand pointing the index finger to the sky. It is one of several geological monuments of the Serra dos Órgãos National Park, which is located in the Serra do Mar, near the city of Teresópolis, in Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Region. The first to step on the summit were José Guimarães Teixeira, Raul Carneiro and the Américo brothers, Alexandre and Acácio de Oliveira, on April 9, 1912.

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Thanks to Dragan Buškulić for his contribution (https://worldofstamp2.wordpress.com/).

ECUADOR

ECUADOR.

Inauguration of Saracay or Zaracay Railway Bridge.
Airmail stamp issued on 26.08.1960.
Face value: 1.30 Ecuadorian sucre.
Printed by Waterlow & Sons Ltd.
Printing: Offset lithography.
Print: 1,000,000 copies.

Catalogs
- Bertossa No. 1084.
- Michel No. 1047.
- Scott No. C368.
- StampWorld No. 1046.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 1174.
- Yvert et Tellier No. PA368.

The Saracay or Zaracay railway bridge (currently probably in disuse and nonexistent), over the Piloto River, is located in Santa Rosa, El Oro Province. It was inaugurated on August 26, 1960.

FALKLAND ISLANDS

FALKLAND ISLANDS.

Nature Reserves.
Bird Island stylized map and coastal cliffs. Black-browed Albatross (Thalassarche melanophris)
and Southern Rockhopper Penguins (Eudyptes chrysocome).
Third stamp in a set of 4, issued on 09.04.1990.
Face value: 31 Falkland Islands penny.
Printing: Offset lithography.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 520.
- Scott No. 522.
- StampWorld No. 535.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 599.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 532.

Bird Island (Spanish: Isla Pájaro) is located 4.5 km (2.80 mi) south of West Falkland. Its area is 1.2 km2 (0.5 sq mi), and highest elevation 107 m (351 ft).  It has been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International. Amongst the birds which breed here are rockhopper penguins, king shags, petrels and black-browed albatrosses. The island is roughly triangular in shape. The western half of the southern coast has sheer cliffs reaching at least 70 m (230 ft) and the plateau above slopes gently to the north and west. In the centre of the island there is a large seasonal pool to the west of a small inlet. The eastern promontory has two domed peaks with sheer southern cliffs of 30 m (98 ft) and very steep slopes in the north.

COLOMBIA

COLOMBIA.

Docks in Barranquilla Port.
First stamp in a set of 8, issued on 05.03.1956.
Face value: 5 Colombian centavos.
Printed by De La Rue & Co. Ltd., Basingstoke (England).
Printing: Recess.
Print: 3,000,000 copies.
Size: 35 x 30 mm.

Catalogs
- Leo Temprano No. 835.
- Michel No. 764.
- Scott No. 644.
- StampWorld No. 746.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 869.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 509.

Barranquilla is the capital of Atlántico Department. It is located on the western bank of the Magdalena River, 7.5 km (4.7 mi) from its mouth in the Caribbean Sea. In 1993 it was constitutionally organized in a special, industrial and port district. It is the main economic center of the Caribbean region of Colombia. Its population, in 2018, was 1,274,250 people. In 1849, Sabanilla Bay, in the Caribbean Sea, was converted into a commercial port and a customs office was installed in the current Castillo de Salgar. In 1893 the Puerto Colombia pier was built, which was at the time one of the longest in the world. The current port area of Barranquilla, on the banks of the Magdalena River, has a length of about 22 km (14 mi); Construction began in 1925 and it was officially inaugurated in December 1936. The docks that can be seen in the stamp were built in 1939, the year in which the activity of Puerto Colombia was abandoned.

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.

VENEZUELA

VENEZUELA.

Tourism.
Llovizna Falls on the Coroní River.
Second stamp in a set of 6, issued on 22.03.1960.
Face value: 0.15 Venezuelan bolívares.
Printed by Bundesdruckerei, Berlin.
Printing: Offset lithography.
Print: 50,000 copies.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 1305.
- Scott No. 783.
- StampWorld No. 1325.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 1583.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 601.

Llovizna Falls is a waterfall on the Caroní River, close to its confluence with the Orinoco, located in the 160-hectare Llovizna Park, at Puerto Ordaz, in Ciudad Guayana, Bolívar State. The waterfall is about 20 meters high. The nearby Macagua Dam has reduced the flow over the waterfall in recent years, but the cascade continues to be spectacular and is a major tourist attraction.

COLOMBIA

COLOMBIA.

Tourism.
Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.
Airmail. Second stamp in a set of 3, issued on 01.12.1993.
460 Colombian pesos.
Design: Dieter Bortfeldt (1940-2014).
Printed by Carvajal, S.A., Cali.
Printing: Offset lithography.
Print: 600,000 copies.
Size: 40 x 50 mm.

Catalogs
- Leo Temprano No. 1940.
- Michel No. 1927.
- Scott No. 1086b.
- StampWorld No. 1909.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 1994.
- Yvert et Tellier No. PA879.

The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (English: Snow-Covered Mountain Range of Saint Martha) is an isolated mountain range that extends between the departments of Magdalena, Cesar and La Guajira in northern Colombia, separate from the Andes range. Its summits, of the same height (5,730 m or 18,800 ft) are Pico Cristóbal Colón and Pico Simón Bolívar. It is integrated into the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta National Natural Park (Spanish: Parque Nacional Natural Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta), established in 1964. The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is home to the remnants of the Native American Tairona Culture; Arhuacos, Koguis, Wiwas and Kankuamos, who live in Resguardos indígenas (indigenous reserves) located in the mid-highlands.

VENEZUELA

VENEZUELA.

Opening of General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge in Lake Maracaibo.
Second stamp in a set of 3, issued on 24.08.1963.
Face value: 0.35 Venezuelan bolívares.
Printed by De La Rue & Co. Ltd., Basingstoke (England).
Printing: Photogravure.
Print: 300,000 copies.
Size: 30 x 40.5 mm.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 1505.
- Scott No. 838.
- StampWorld No. 1525.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 1790.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 680.

The General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge, also locally called the Bridge over the Lake, crosses the narrowest part (the Tablazo Strait) of Lake Maracaibo, in the State of Zulia, in northwestern Venezuela, and connects the city of Maracaibo with the rest from the country. Designed by the Italian engineer Riccardo Morandi and later modified by the Puente Maracaibo Consortium (Consorcio Puente Maracaibo, CPM), it was built in reinforced and prestressed concrete between 1957 and 1963. It has 134 pillars, a length of 8,678 m (28,471 ft) and a width of 17.40 m (57 ft). It was officially inaugurated and opened to traffic on August 24, 1962. At the beginning of the 21st century, it was renovated and illuminated in its six main pillars, using 96 600 W luminaires that can change color. The bridge is named after General Rafael Urdaneta, a Venezuelan hero of Independence who was born in Maracaibo.

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO.

Tourism, beaches.
Maracas Bay.
First stamp in a set of 4, issued on 25.07.2000.
Face value: 75 Trinidad and Tobago cents.
Printing: Offset lithography.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 693.
- Scott No. 601.
- StampWorld No. 667.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 884.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 727.

Maracas is a bay with a crescent-shaped beach of golden sand, located between tropical forests and high hills (up to 120 m, 394 ft) covered with vegetation, on the north side of the Trinidad Island. Unlike many of the northern beaches of the island, Maracas is protected by a deep bay of some 2 km (1.25 mi). It is the most popular beach in the country, and an ideal place for body or board surfing, also famous as a gastronomic seaside resort.

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Thanks to Dragan Buškulić for his contribution (https://worldofstamp2.wordpress.com/).

ARGENTINA

ARGENTINA.

Year of Tourism in the Americas.
Iguazu Falls.
Stamp issued on 16.12.1972.
Face value: 45 Argentine centavos.
Printing: Offset lithography.
Print: 1,000,000 copies.
Size: 66 x 30 mm.

Catalogs
- Cefiloza No. 1132.
- Götig & Jalil No. 1602.
- Michel No. 1135.
- Scott No. 985.
- StampWorld No. 1159.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 1410.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 935.

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.

ECUADOR

ECUADOR.

Tourism Promotion.
Tomebamba River, Cuenca.
Fourth stamp in a set of 6, issued in 1953.
Face value: 30 Ecuadorian centavos.
Printed by Security Banknote Company.
Printing: Recess.
Print: 2,000,000 copies.

Catalogs
- Bertossa No. 860.
- Michel No. 815.
- Scott No. 579.
- StampWorld No. 817.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 987.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 568.

The Tomebamba River rises in the Cajas National Park, in the sector called "Tres Cruces", at 3,020 m (9,908 ft) altitude, and runs through the city of Cuenca. When it joins the Machángara River, it forms the Cuenca River, which is a tributary of the Paute River. The Tomebamba water after passing through other rivers reaches the Amazon River and then the Atlantic Ocean. Including the headwaters, its total length is 42 km (26 mi).

VENEZUELA

VENEZUELA.

Tourism.
Playa Colorada.
First stamp in a set of 6, issued on 24.01.1969.
Face value: 0.15 Venezuelan bolívares.
Printed by Bundesdruckerei, Berlin.
Printing: Offset lithography.
Print: 500,000 copies.
Size: 39 x 30 mm.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 1771.
- Scott No. 930.
- StampWorld No. 1791.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 2059.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 772.

Playa Colorada is a beach on the Caribbean Sea, located in the Mochima National Park in the state of Sucre. It owes its name to the color of its sand, which has shades ranging from reddish to gold. It is characterized by its crystal clear waters, its coconut palms and its rich fauna, formed mainly by seabirds and dolphins. It is approximately 400 m (1,310 ft) long. It is under the responsibility of the Instituto Nacional de Parques (National Institute of Parks).

BRITISH GUIANA

BRITISH GUIANA.

Definitive stamps.
Location map of Guiana in South America, and Queen Elizabeth II.
Fifth stamp in a set of 15, issued on 01.12.1954.
Face value: 5 Guyanese cents.
Printing: Recess.
Size: 34 x 28 mm.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 203.
- Scott No. 257.
- StampWorld No. 205.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 335.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 189.

British Guiana was a colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, on the northern coast of South America. The first European to encounter Guiana was the English explorer Walter Raleigh in 1595. The Dutch were the first Europeans to settle there, starting in the early 17th century, when they founded the colonies of Essequibo and Berbice. The colonies were officially ceded to the United Kingdom in 1814 and consolidated into a single colony in 1831. In 1928 the British Government abolished the Dutch-influenced constitution and replaced it with a Crown colony constitution. The colony's capital was at Georgetown. Guyana became independent of the United Kingdom on May 26, 1966.

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

ECUADOR

ECUADOR.

Tourism Promotion.
Cuicocha Lagoon.
First stamp in a set of 6, issued in 1953.
Face value: 5 Ecuadorian centavos.
Printed by Security Banknote Company.
Printing: Recess.
Print: 300,000 copies.

Catalogs
- Bertossa No. 857.
- Michel No. 812.
- Scott No. 576.
- StampWorld No. 814.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 984.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 565.

Cuicocha (Kichwa language: Kuychi Kucha) is a 3 km (2 mi) wide caldera and crater lake at the foot of Cotacachi Volcano in the Cordillera Occidental of the Ecuadorian Andes, in Imbabura Province, at an altitude of 3,068 m (10,066 ft) over sea level . The caldera was created by a massive eruption about 3100 years ago that generated about 5 km³ (6.54 billion cubic yards) of pyroclastic flow and covered the surrounding area in volcanic ash up to 20 cm (8 inches) deep. Activity continued until 650 CE. The lake, which is 200 m (656 ft) deep at its deepest point, is highly alkaline and contains little life. It has no known output. Lake Cuicocha contains four dacitic lava domes that form two steep forested islands: Yerovi and Teodoro Wolf, separated by the so-called “Channel of Dreams” (Spanish: Canal de los Sueños). Cuicocha forms the southern end of the Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve.

ARGENTINA

ARGENTINA.

Argentine Provinces.
Fonck Lake, Río Negro Province.
Third stamp in a set of 4, issued on 08.10.1977.
Face value: 30 Argentine pesos ley.
Printed by Casa de Moneda, Buenos Aires.
Printing: Offset lithography.
Print: 500,000 copies.
Size: 66 x 30 mm.

Catalogs
- Cefiloza No. 1320.
- Götig and Jalil No. 1798.
- Michel No. 1315.
- Scott No. 1154.
- StampWorld No. 1338.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 1572.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 1100.

Lake Fonck, of glacial origin, is located within the Nahuel Huapi National Park, in the department of Bariloche, province of Río Negro, at an altitude of 780 m (2,559 ft). It has an area of 4.82 km² (1.86 sq mi) and occupies a valley surrounded by the Volcánico, Fonck and Hess mountains; from its shores you can see Mount Tronador (visible on the stamp), located about 15 km (9.32 mi). It belongs to the Manso river basin. It is surrounded by Andean Patagonian forest. It owes its name to the German-Chilean explorer Francisco Fonck, who visited the region at the end of the 19th century.

ECUADOR

ECUADOR.

Chimborazo Volcano.
Fifth stamp in a set of 9, issued in 1934.
Face value: 10 Ecuadorian centavos.
Printed by American Bank Note Co., New York.
Printing: Recess.
Print: 1,000,000 copies.
Size: 28 x 24 mm.

Catalogs
- Bertossa No. 356.
- Michel No. 318.
- Scott No. 324.
- StampWorld No. 320.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 496.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 307.

Chimborazo is an inactive double stratovolcano in the Cordillera Occidental range of the Andes, and it shows four summits; Whymper, Veintimilla, Politecnica, and Nicolas Martínez. Its last eruption is believed to have occurred around 550 A.D. With a peak elevation of 6,263 m (20,548 ft) above sea level, it is the highest mountain in Ecuador. Chimborazo is in the Chimborazo Province, 150 km (93 mi) south-southwest of the city of Quito. The top of the mountain is completely covered by glaciers. The English climber Edward Whymper and his Italian guides Louis Carrel and Jean-Antoine Carrel, were the first Europeans to reach the top on January 4, 1880.

VENEZUELA

VENEZUELA.

80th anniversary of the death of Francisco de Miranda.
Map of Orinoco River basin.
First stamp in a set of 5, issued on 04.07.1896.
Face value: 5 Venezuelan cents.
Design: Pius Schlageter (1856-1949).
Printed by Imprenta Nacional, Caracas.
Print: 1,250,000 copies.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 48.
- Scott No. 137.
- StampWorld No. 58.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 169.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 54.

Sebastián Francisco de Miranda y Rodríguez de Espinoza, commonly known as Francisco de Miranda (March 28, 1750 – July 14, 1816), was a Venezuelan military leader and revolutionary. Although his own plans for the independence of the Spanish American colonies failed, he is regarded as a forerunner of Simón Bolívar, who during the Spanish American wars of independence successfully liberated much of South America. He was known as "The First Universal Venezuelan" and "The Great Universal American".

he Orinoco Basin is the part of South America drained by the Orinoco river and its tributaries. The Orinoco watershed covers an area of about 990,000 km² (382,240 sq mi), making it the third largest in South America, covering most of Venezuela and eastern part of Colombia. The Orinoco is one of the most important rivers in the world due to its length (2,140 km, 1,330 mi), the extent of its basin (1 million km²) and especially its historical importance and economic and the meaning it has had for Venezuela.

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

CHILE

CHILE.

Country Views.
Lake Villarrica.
Eleventh stamp in a set of 12, issued in 1939.
Face value: 5 Chilean pesos.
Design and engraving: José Moreno Benavente (1905-1981).
Printed by Talleres de Especies Valoradas, Santiago de Chile.
Printing: Recess.
Size: 33 x 30 mm.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 242.
- Scott No. 208.
- Sociedad Filatélica de Chile No. 263.
- StampWorld No. 236.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 278.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 177.

Lake Villarrica (in Mapudungun: Mallalafquén) is located about 700 kilometers south of Santiago in Chile's Araucanía region in the southeast area of the Cautín Province. It is fed by the Trancura river and empties into the Toltén river. Its surface area is 173 km² (67 sq mi), it is elliptical in shape, whose major axis reaches 23 km (14.3 mi) and the smallest 11 km (6.83 mi), and is at a height of 230 m (750 ft) above sea level. The lake has a single, uninhabited island called Aillaquillén, about 300 m (984 ft) in diameter at its largest. The Villarrica Volcano, one of the ten most active in the world, is situated to the south of the lake.

COLOMBIA

COLOMBIA.

Tourist sites.
Tequendama Waterfall (Salto del Tequendama).
Airmail. Fifth stamp in a set of 11, issued on 03.11.1945.
Size: 30 cents of Colombian peso.
Printed by Lito, Colombia.
Printing: Offset lithography.
Print: 1,500,000 copies.
Size: 25.5 x 30.5 mm.

Catalogs
- Leo Temprano No. 566.
- Michel No. 470.
- Scott No. C236.
- StampWorld No. 460.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 626.
- Yvert et Tellier No. PA145.

The Tequendama Falls (Spanish: Salto del Tequendama) is a 132 m (433 ft) high waterfall of the Bogotá River, at a height of 2,385 m (7,825 ft) above sea level, located 32 km (20 mi) southwest of Bogotá in the municipality of Soacha (department of Cundinamarca). The river emerges through a rocky gorge that narrows to about 18 m (59 ft) at the edge of the fall. During the month of December the falls dry up completely.

VENEZUELA

VENEZUELA.

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries Conference, Caracas.
Auyán-tepuy and Carrao River.
Fifth stamp in a set of 10, issued on 26.09.2000.
Face value: 300 Venezuelan bolívares.
Design: Ana Carolina Palmero.
Printed by Gráficas Armitano, Caracas.
Printing: Offset lithography.
Print: 20,000 copies.
Size: 38 x 32 mm.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 3398.
- Scott No. 1616e.
- StampWorld No. 3427.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 3654.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 2169E.

Auyán-tepui is a tepui in Bolívar state, in the Guiana Highlands, within Canaima National Park, with a summit area of 666.9 km² (257.5 sq mi). The unevenly heart-shaped summit plateau of Auyán-tepui is heavily inclined, rising from around 1,600 m (5,200 ft) in the northwest to a maximum of 2,450 m (8,040 ft) in the southeast. The mountain hosts a number of extensive cave systems.

The Carrao River is part of the Orinoco River basin. It is well known for one of its main tributaries, the Churún River, which feeds the Angel Falls. It flows mainly through the Canaima National Park. It empties into the Caroní River, one of the main tributaries of the Orinoco in Venezuela.