PANAMA

PANAMA / PANAMÁ.

Airmail definitive stamps.
Map of Panama.
Stamp issued on 04.08.1949.
Face value: 5 cents of Panamanian balboa.
Printing: Recess.
Size: 29 x 25 mm,

Catalogs
- Michel No. 300.
- Scott No. C112.
- StampWorld No. 377.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 232.
- Yvert et Tellier No. PA 105.

In 1501, Rodrigo de Bastidas was the first European to reach the Isthmus of Panama. In 1502, on his fourth voyage, Columbus reached the Atlantic coast of the isthmus. In 1510, Vasco Núñez de Balboa founded Santa María la Antigua del Darién, the first city in current Panamanian territory, called the Kingdom of Tierra Firme, and three years later he undertook the conquest of the interior of the isthmus: on September 23, 1513 he discovered the coast of the Pacific Ocean, which he called Mar del Sur (South Sea), which he took possession of in the name of the Crown of Castile. In 1751 Tierra Firme came under the jurisdiction of the Viceroyalty of New Granada. On November 28, 1821, Panama proclaimed its independence from the Crown of Spain and joined Gran Colombia. After several unsuccessful attempts, on November 3, 1903, it separated from Colombia and the independence of the Republic of Panama was proclaimed.

VENEZUELA

VENEZUELA.

150th anniversary of the creation of Greater Colombia.
Historical map of Greater Colombia (Gran Colombia).
Stamp issued on 16.12.1969.
Face value: 0.45 Venezuelan bolívar.
Printing: Offset lithography.
Printed by Litografía del Comercio, Caracas.
Print: 1,000,000 copies.

Catalogues
- Michel No. 1816
- Scott No. 956.
- StampWorld No. 1835.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 2104.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 796.

Greater Colombia (Gran Colombia) is the historiographical designation of a large disappeared country in South America, which legally existed between 1819 and 1831, created by the Congress of Angostura (now Ciudad Bolívar) through a fundamental law ratified in 1821 in Cúcuta, where the national Constitution was drawn up. The country was formed by the union of Venezuela and New Granada into a single nation under the name of the Republic of Colombia, which was later joined by Panama (1821), Quito and Guayaquil (1822). The capital was Bogotá and the first president was Simón Bolívar. Its surface corresponded to the current republics of Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela (including Guayana Esequiba) and other territories that later passed to Brazil, Peru, Nicaragua and Honduras. The country dissolved in the late 1820s and early 1830s, due to political differences between supporters of federalism and centralism, as well as regional tensions.

INDONESIA

INDONESIA.

10th Anniversary of the Asia Pacific Telecommunity (APT), 1979-1989.
Simplified map of the riparian countries of the Pacific Ocean. 
Stamp issued on 01.07.1989.
Face value: 350 Indonesian rupiah.
Printing: Photogravure.

Catalogues
- Michel No. 1301.
- Scott No. 1390.
- StampWorld No. 1344.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 1931.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 1186.

The Asia Pacific Telecommunity (APT) is an intergovernmental organization and operates in conjunction with telecom service providers, manufacturers of communications equipment, and research and development organizations active in the field of communication, information and innovation technologies. It was founded on the joint initiatives of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The APT was established by an international treaty titled: Constitution of the Asia Pacific Telecommunity concluded in Bangkok on March 27, 1976 and came into force on February 25, 1979. After the treaty came into force, APT was formally organized on July 1, 1979.

NORFOLK ISLAND

NORFOLK ISLAND.

Bicentennial of the observation of Venus by Captain James Cook.
Map of the Pacific Ocean showing transit of Venus across te Sun from Tahiti,
and portrait of Captain James Cook.
Stamp isued on 03.06.1969.
Face value: 10 cents of Australian dollar.
Designed by V. Whiteley from a sketch by J. Cowap.
Printed by Harrison and Sons Ltd., London.
Printing: Photogravure.
Size: 39 x 26 mm.

Catalogues
- Michel No. 101.
- Scott No. 122.
- StampWorld No. 101.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 99.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 101.

On June 3, 1769, British navigator Captain James Cook, British naturalist Joseph Banks, British astronomer Charles Green and Swedish naturalist Daniel Solander recorded the transit of Venus on the island of Tahiti during Cook's first voyage around the world. During a transit, Venus appears as a small black disc travelling across the Sun. This unusual astronomical phenomenon takes place in a pattern that repeats itself every 243 years. It includes two transits that are eight years apart, separated by breaks of 121.5 and 105.5 years. These men, along with a crew of scientists, were commissioned by the Royal Society of London for the primary purpose of viewing the transit of Venus. Not only would their findings help expand scientific knowledge, it would help with navigation by accurately calculating the observer's longitude.