The Romanian Post is launching a new series of postage stamps, dedicated to a great navigator, Amerigo Vespucci.
The life of Amerigo Vespucci is surrounded by a certain mystery and the information that survived time is scarce. It seems that he was born in 1454 in Florence (Italy) and was given a humanistic education. He worked for Lorenzo and Giovanni de Medici which sent him to Seville where he encountered the world of navigation.
The number of voyages on sea and the periods when he made them are under fierce debate by nowadays historians. But the voyage under Portuguese auspices, that presumably took place in 1501-1502, is of fundamental importance in the history of geographic discovery. Vespucci himself, and scholars as well, became convinced that he newly discovered lands were not part of Asia, as it was thought at that time, but a “New World”. The name for the Americas is derived from his given name.
Towards the end of his life, Spain appointed him as chief navigator, a post of great responsibility which Vespucci held until his death. He died in Seville (Spain) in1512.
Some scholars have held Vespucci to be an ignorant usurper of the merits of others. The fact that Spain entrusted him, a foreigner, with the office of chief navigator is sufficient to dispose of these accusations. The Spaniards saw that he possessed an outstand knowledge of nautical science.
The two postage stamps are of 16,000 lei (ROL) and 31,000 lei (ROL).
