Tag: Chile stamp

One hundred and fifteen years ago it was still possible to remember Christopher Columbus as a man who conquered danger and obstacles to bring freedom and opportunity for Europeans in the new world while bringing the good news of Jesus to lost and desperate natives. A Golden Legend. Throughout history and especially today, there is a competing Black Legend that recast Columbus as an incompetent set on enslavement with a demonic thirst for unearned riches. In Columbus’s own time he could and did defend his good name. When Governor of Hispaniola, He had a colonial Spanish woman stripped and paraded through the streets before cutting out her tongue for saying he was of low birth. Protecting his Golden Legend while also perhaps providing ammunition to the Black Legend crowd. Maybe everything isn’t so simple and whichever side someone is on they should be well versed in both legends. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Notice something about this Chilean stamp. It did not feel the need to tell the postal user or the stamp collector who they were looking at. An Italian man who’s travels were 400 years before and never got close to Chile. Yet his image was thought self evident enough not to require identification. Golden or Black, there is no denying the legend.

Todays stamp is issue A14, a five Centavo stamp issued by Chile in 1905. It was a 10 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 70 cents unused. There is a version stamped Isla de Mas Afuera that were only for use on Juan Fernandez Islands. That version is worth $125.

The term Black Legend originates in 19th century Britain through a series of histories that cast the the Napoleonic and especially the Spanish Empires as something dark and demented as opposed to the good work of community building in the name of God, King, and family as practiced in the British Empire. To give evidence for this view, the quest for gold and the alleged enslavement of the indigenous are pointed out. These points are amplified today with everyone becoming spokesmen for the otherwise voiceless indigenous. It shouldn’t be too big a surprise that the same arguments are now turned on the British colonial efforts.

It should be remembered that Columbus’s voyage was funded by the Spanish Crown in the hope of finding a shorter route to the trading posts of Asia. Ironically Christopher Columbus sent his brother Bartholomew to pitch the idea of being a patron  of the voyages to the British Crown. It was not meant to be. On his voyage to Britain, Bartholomew’s ship was attacked by pirates. It is a misreading of history that Columbus was for the first time proposing that the world was round. Educated people of the day knew of the work of Ptolemy and Eratosthenes. The big error of Columbus was a miscalculation of the Earth’s diameter. He estimated the distance sailing west from his starting off point in the Canary Islands to Japan would be at most 5000 miles. The actual journey would be more than twice that even if the western hemisphere was not in the way.

In 1500, Columbus was removed as colonial governor of Hispaniola, arrested, and sent back to Spain in chains. Over two thirds of the Spanish colonists had died from disease and famine in the early days of colony and the remainder were in a sour mood. The removal also in the opinion of the Spanish Crown absolved them having to pay Columbus his personal 10% of new colony profits that they had agreed to when they funded the first voyage. Back in Spain in his last years Columbus wrote two books defending himself. His Book of Privileges put out what he felt he was owed. He also wrote a Book of Prophesies putting forth his discoveries in terms of God’s requirement for spreading the word of God.

After his death, Columbus’s remains were moved to Santo Domingo. An American request in 1913 was denied that the remains be allowed to be placed on the first ship to use the new Panama Canal. This proves that 1913 was still a period of Columbus’s Golden Legend.

Well my drink is empty and you can probably guess that I will side with the Legends of Gold over Legends of Blackness every time. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

Here we have a Chilean volcano, Choshuenco. We  don’t know too much about when and how often it erupted because the maps in Chile were so bad that it was not clear which volcano might be going off. Many of the early maps of Chile were done by Jesuit Missionaires and in 1768 the Jesuits were forced out of Chile. No maps for you, was perhaps an unintended outcome. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

I am afraid Chile is not going to come across too well in this write up. In addition to the map issue, and the glacier issue we will get into later, we have the matter of the overprint. The overprint signifies that it is a postal tax issue that increases the denomination six fold. What do you do when a post office has a pile of nine year old stamps in such a low denomination that they can no longer get your mail anywhere. You could throw them away of perhaps auction them off to stamp dealers for pennies on the already too few centavos. If you just overprinted a new value you would remind the postal patron how fast prices are rising and by extension how badly managed the government was. So instead the overprint is presented as a postal tax, a one time charge to update the postal system. Was anybody fooled?

Todays stamp is issue RA1, a 12 total centavo postal tax stamp issue of Chile in 1970. It was originally part of an eight stamp issue from 1961. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused or whether or not it is overprinted.

The Chosehuenco volcano lies in the Los Rios region of Chile. It had a sister volcano named Mocho and in the valley between there is a glacier. There is some debate on where the current name of Chosehuenco came from. Some say it is from the Mapuche Indian word for yellow waters. Others think it come from the Indian Chod hu, which translates into water to be dyed yellow. Wonder how the Indians would do that?

The area was first mapped by Jesuit priest Alonso de Ovalle in 1645. He called it Peguipulli because you could see the peak from Lake Penguipuli. That was going to have to do until Abbot Molina published his book in Italy in 1795 on the geography of Chile. Molina had grew up in Chile but has a Jesuit Priest, he was forced into an Italian exile as Chile banished Jesuits in 1768. One can imagine how much his memory of the area had deteriated since leaving so many years before but he did contribute a new name for the volcano, Valdivia. Molina is most famous for noticing and writing about elements of animal evolution 45 years before Charles Darwin. Darwin quoted Molina extensively in his later work. The first reference to the current name was from 1895.

I mentioned that the two volcanos have a glacier between. In 2001, there was a grave report made that the area of the glacier had shrunk 40 percent since 1976. The remaining area was on borrowed time unless something drastic was done. Needless to say nothing drastic was done, you can’t after all snap your fingers and make it colder. Thankfully the doomsday folks have proved pessimistic and nearly 20 years later, there is still a large area of glacier in the area.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Jesuit Priests with good memories. Come again tomorrow when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

Bolivia is a landlocked nation. In the 1830s it confederated with Peru freaking out Chile and Argentina. I bet the Chileans were not expecting a naval attack from Bolivia, but it was a time when you could set a bounty and attract foreign privateers. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Here we have a naval battle scene and a seaman of the Chilean navy. The navy perhaps should have worked harder on their uniforms, this fellow looks more like he might be one of the privateers Chile was fighting. The Chilean Captain was British and the privateer Captain was French, so perhaps they were trying to imply someone from the area was involved in the battle.

Todays stamp is issue A440, a 100 Peso stamp issued by Chile on January 12, 1989, the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Casma. It was a four stamp issue that came out as two stamp pairs depicting battles from the War of Confederation. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 85 cents used.

Robert Simpson was born in England and was a teenage midshipman on the sloop HMS Rose under Lord Cochrane. A port call in Chile saw him jump ship to join the navy of newly independent Chile. It was an opportunity for rapid advancement and by age 21 he was a Captain. An example of how threadbare the operation was can be seen in his command of the American built 18 gun brigantine Araucano. Ordered to sail to California to buy supplies after raiding Spanish commerce off Acapulco, Simpson went ashore to handle transactions. The ship then mutinied under one of Simpson’s also British deputies and sailed around the pacific ocean before ending up as a pirate ship based out of Tahiti. The French authorities there eventually seized the ship and told Chile the ship was theirs if they would come get it. They never came for it.

Simpson returned to Chile after being stranded and given later commands. In the late 1830s, Simpson was commanding a three ship squadron that was trying to blockade the port of Lima during the war with the Confederation of Bolivia and Peru. A bounty of 200,000 Pesos was put on the Chilean squadron. A four small ship force of privateers responded to bounty under former French naval officer Juan Blanchet. We can probably deduce that 200,000 Pesos was more then than now. The Chilean squadron was caught in Casma bay but the bigger Chilean ships got the better of the fighting. The privateers’ flagship was captured and Blanchet killed. The other privateers than hoisted French flags and ran. Unfortunately in running they ran into a real French warship that did not appreciate their French flags and forced the privateer squadron to disband. Simpson was made a Commodore and many years later took Chilean citizenship.

The Chileans eventually also beat the confederation on the ground as well as at sea and the confederation between Peru and Bolivia ended. The leader of the confederation went into a European exile.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Commodore Simpson. We can’t know if would have risen so high in the Royal Navy but he did manage to rule the seas, Britannia style, at least in the Bay of Casma. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

A far off colony needs to be always reminded that they are not alone. Otherwise they will believe that they have to rely on themselves. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Todays stamp celebrates the 100th anniversary of Chile’s struggle of independence by showing a  battle scene of the decisive battle of the war. Looking back at the struggle as a military campaign makes for a heroic stamp issue, but does not go very far to tell the story of why it happened.

The stamp today is issue A17, a 5 Centavo stamp issued by Chile in 1910 on the 100th anniversary of the Chilean struggle for independence. The stamp features the Battle of Maipu in 1818. According to the Scott catalog the stamp is worth 25 cents used. I think this stamp is somewhat undervalued, as an attractive commemorative that is now over 100 years old. Remember though that stamps were issued at the time more to raise revenue from stamp collectors than be used in mail and clearly Chile has yet to develop enough local collectors  who would revel in exploring their countries history through  its stamp issues.

A confluence of events lead to Chile seeking independence from Spain. There was a great deal of loyalty personally to Spanish King Ferdinand. However he was forced out by Napoleon, who then put his brother on the Spanish Throne. Joseph Bonaparte commanded no loyalty in the colonies. The loyalty was divided though between Ferdinand and his sister Carlota who was married to the King of Portugal and had gone into exile in Brazil also fleeing Napoleon. By then she was estranged from  her husband and began offering herself up as the Queen of La Plata, the rightful ruler of South America. This divided Royalists and put ever more people toward thoughts of independence.

At this same time, the colonial government of Spain in Chile was discredited by the Scorpion scandal. The Scorpion was a British ship off the coast of Chile allegedly whaling but really attempting to smuggle English textiles into Chile. An American Doctor working in Chile agreed to buy the textiles but then decided on a double cross. He contacted the colonial Governor who agreed to provide undercover police for his plan in exchange for a personal share of the profits. The transaction happened but at a set time at an ashore party afterwards, the police assassinated the ships officers and the Scorpion was boarded retrieving the money. With the Governor getting his share no customs were required also defrauding the colony. When the scheme went public, the colonial authority was disgraced and the governor had go into exile in Peru.

After the Portuguese King returned to his throne in Portugal, the hated and separated Queen Carlota was confined to a castle where she conspired with one of her sons to remove her husband  as she had done earlier in Brazil. Her style of dress and mannerism became ever more bizarre and it was rumored that her castle was rife with sexual orgyies. She died alone in the castle at age 55 amid rumors of suicide. A long term conniver seems to attract a lot of rumours while confined to castle. Was she in the dungeon, was she in charge of the dungeon?

The Battle of Maipu on the stamp was the decisive battle of the War of Independence. A joint Argentine-Chilean force under Argentine leader San Martin defeated an equally sized force of Spanish troops south of Santiago. There were skirmishes with Spanish Royalists for 5 more years.

Well my drink is empty and so I will open the conversation in the below comment section. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. we have an interesting story to tell where we try to use the 400th anniversary stamp of the discovery of Chile to piece together what happened.

The stamp is visually not very impressive. It is from the thirties though and from not a particularly wealthy country. The stamps of the set show various industries of Chile. In the case of todays stamp, fishing boats represent that industry. What none of the stamps show is a gold mine, which is what the Spanish initially came for.

The stamp today is issue A66, a 10 centavo stamp issued by Chile on March 1st 1935. It was part of a 12 stamp issue in various denominations to celebrate the 400 anniversary of the discovery of Chile by the Spanish conquistador Diego de Almagro. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used. The stamp to look out for in this set is the 10 Peso stamp featuring a saltpeter mine. It is worth $14 mint.

Talking of anniversaries like the one on this stamp is difficult these days as people only want to hear one side depending on their politics or ethnicity. Here are some basic facts that are not in dispute. The discovery of Chile does not take into account the Mapuche tribe that was already present in numbers. It also does not take into account that the explorer Magellan had sighted Chile 25 years before. It also does not take into account that the conquistador Diego de Almagro did not stay and actually find a colony.

Diego de Almagro story was very much the personal quest to find gold and thereby wealth. He first went to the earlier found Panama where he teamed up with Pizarro to move south in pursuit of Inca gold. It is worthy to remember how small these expeditions were. Only a few hundred men. I think it is reasonable to wonder if these vast Indian empires were so great, how could they have fallen to so small a force. Any way the Incas fell in stages in Peru yielding much gold to the conquistadors. The gold mainly went to Pizarro and Almagro became a jealous rival. At first they were both headed north toward Quito in present day Ecuador where it was believed the Incas had much more gold. Quito was burned before Spanish conquest and there was supposedly some gold buried. The failure lead to increased rivalry between Almagro and Pizarro and the Spanish King divided the map as to where each could seek gold to get them apart.

Almagro lead 250 men south down Inca trails toward Chile. He made it into Chile but found very little gold. He did find a war ready Indian tribe called the Mapuche. He did not stay to find a colony but instead returned to Peru to feud with Pizarro over the already found gold. This did not go well for any concerned. Eventually Pizarro, Almagro and even Almagro’s son were all hung  by the various Spanish factions.

The area of present day Chile reported to the Peruvian Spanish colony.  it remained for a long time the poorest area of the Spanish American empire. The Mapuche Indians were not fully subdued until the 19th century and still today are a big part of the ethnic makeup of Chile. The discredited American academic Ward Churchill claims that the Mapuche Indians were completely decimated by the interactions with the Spaniards. While the losses were great, I don’t think it gives the Indians enough credit for how long they held out. Also it perhaps short changes the Spanish who seemed to be able to do so much with so few.

Today Chile is a free prosperous country with a majority of it’s citizens of Indian ancestry. For this reason I think it is better to think of it as the Spanish came and were integrated into the local culture. And if there wasn’t much gold, at least there was copper and of course saltpeter.

Well my drink is empty and so it is time to open up the discussion in the below comment section. I have been lucky enough to visit Chile and neighboring Argentina. The two countries are very different both ethnicly and in the forward looking Chile and the backward turned Argentina. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.