GABON

GABON.

Admission to the United Nations.
Map and flag.
Last stamp in a set of 3, issued on 09.02.1961.
Face value: 85 Central African CFA francs.
Design and engraving: Jacques Combet (1920-1993).
Printing: Recess.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 159.
- Scott No. 153.
- StampWorld No. 172.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 169.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 152.

Gabon, officially the Gabonese Republic (French: République gabonaise), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa. It is located on the equator. It has an area of 267,667 km2 (103,347 sq mi) and in 2021 its population was 2,284,912 people. Its territory, inhabited for about 650,000 years, was colonized by the Mpongwe people from the 11th century. The first Europeans to arrive on its shores were the Portuguese in the 15th century, who called the country Gabão, a name taken from the indigenous denomination of the area of the Gabon River estuary, where the country's capital, Libreville, is currently located. Both the Portuguese and the Dutch engaged in the slave trade. In 1886, Gabon became a French colony which, from 1888, merged with the Congo under the name of Gabon-Congo and then, in 1898, in the French Congo. In 1904, Gabon became a separate colony again, and in 1910, the colonies of Gabon and Congo became part of French Equatorial Africa. The country gained independence from France on August 17, 1960 and was admitted to the UN in 1961.

CAPE VERDE

CAPE VERDE / CABO VERDE - KABU VERDI (Portuguese colony).

Centenary of the birth of Admiral Gago Coutinho.
Map of the first flight Lisbon - Rio de Janeiro (1922).
Stamp issued on 17.02.1969.
Face value: 30 Portuguese escudos.
Printing: offset lithography.

Catalogues
- Afinsa Mundifil No. 339.
- Michel No. 358.
- Scott No. 355.
- StampWorld No. 353.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 419.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 357.

Carlos Viegas Gago Coutinho (Lisbon, February 17, 1869 - February 18, 1959) was an air navigator, historian and officer of the Portuguese Navy with the position of Admiral. As of 1898 he dedicated himself to establishing border delimitations in the Portuguese overseas territories, for which he made several flights. The most notable was the first air crossing of the South Atlantic with Sacadura Cabral (1881-1924): they left Lisbon on March 30, 1922 and, via Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, São Vicente Island (Cape Verde), Fernando de Naronha and the Brazilian towns Recife, Salvador de Bahia, Porto Seguro and Vitória, finally landed in Rio de Janeiro on June 17, after a 79-day journey. In the last years of his life, he devoted himself to the study of Portuguese discoveries and navigations, writing several works that he ended up compiling in his Náutica dos Descobrimentos.

PORTUGAL

PORTUGAL.

5th centenary of the birth of Vasco da Gama.
Imitation of an antique map of Africa with the routes of Vasco da Gama's travels to India.
Third stamp in a set of 4, issued on 30.12.1969.
Face value: 3.50 Portuguese escudos.
Design: Jaime Martins Barata (1899-1970).
Printing: Offset lithography.
Engraved and printed by Casa da Moeda, Liaboa.
Print: 1,000,000 copies.

Catalogues
- Afi No. 1061.
- Michel No. 1090.
- Scott No. 1058.
- StampWorld No. 1070.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 1376.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 1071.

Vasco da Gama (Sines, Portugal, ca. 1460/1469 - Cochin, India, December 24, 1524), was a Portuguese navigator and explorer. He was noted for being the commander of the first ships that sailed directly from Europe to India, the longest ocean voyage ever made. King Manuel I entrusted him with the command of a small squadron, and on July 8, 1497 he set sail from the port of Santa Maria de Belém (Lisbon) to border the African coast, round the Cape of Good Hope and go in search of India. On March 2, 1498, the fleet reached the coast of Mozambique, and after several incidents, on May 20 it reached Kappakadavu, near Calicut, on the western coast of India. After arduous negotiations to secure trade rights, on August 29, 1498, he began the difficult journey back to Portugal, where he finally arrived in September, 1499. Years later, he made two other trips to India. The Portuguese national epic, Os Lusíadas by Camões refers largely to Da Gama's travels.

PORTUGAL

PORTUGAL.

50th Anniversary of the First Flight Lisbon - Rio de Janeiro (1922-1972).
Map with the route through the Atlantic Ocean.
Second stamp in a set of 4, issued on 15.11.1972.
Face value: 2.50 Portuguese escudos.
Design: Serviços Artísticos dos PTT.
Printed by Casa da Moeda, Lisboa.

Catalogues
- Michel No. 1186.
- StampWorld No. 1175.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 1490.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 1170.

Gago Coutinho (1869-1959) and Sacadura Cabral (1881-1924) were both Portuguese navigators that managed to perform the first aereal crossing from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, in the South Atlantic. They began the journey on March 30, 1922 in the “Lusitânia” plane, with stopovers in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and São Vicente Island (Cape Verde), and with a second plane, “Pátria”, in Fernando de Naronha island, and with a third plane, “Santa Cruz”, in the Brazilian towns Recife, Salvador de Bahía. Porto Seguro and Vitória. They finally landed in Rio de Janeiro on June 17, after a 79-day journey.