SAN JUAN DE PEURTO RICO (1625)

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aukepalmhof
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SAN JUAN DE PEURTO RICO (1625)

Post by aukepalmhof » Mon Sep 25, 2017 7:07 pm

This stamp issued by Spain in 1972 is designed after a copper engraving from an atlas by Arnoldus Montanus and shows us a view from the sea of San Juan in Puerto Rico during the 17th century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnoldus_Montanus
The stamp is a reverse of the engraving and the original is in the Central Library in San Juan. Who made the engraving is not known, on the stamp is given 1625 which is possible in that year the Dutch attacked San Juan with a fleet of 17 ships https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_San_Juan_(1625)
Of the vessels and boats depict I have not any information, most probably a Spanish galleon and some smaller boats.

The following web-site has more on the engraving.
Arnold Montanus*; 1625-1683.
Little is known about Montanus, a Jesuit priest and headmaster at the Latin school of Schoonhoven, Netherland except for his publication in 1671 in Amsterdam of his own atlas: "De nieuwe en onbekende wereld". This compilation of extremely decorative maps, concentrated on North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. Actually, most of said maps were strongly influenced by the 1630's Blaeu originals.
In turn Montanus was immediately copied by John Ogilby for his own "An accurate description and complete history of America".
Some maps have been re-used by Pieter van der Aa in his "La gallerie agréable du monde" (1729), and even later in the 1760's in the Covens & Mortier's "Nieuwe Atlas".

* Seemingly no relation with Petrus Montanus (Pieter van der Berg), text writer for Jodocus Hondius at the beginning of the seventeenth century.
Porto Rico.

This mid-sized bird's eye view (13 9/16" X 11 1/8") was designed for the 1671 "onbekende wereld" (Unknown World).
It shows the harbour and defenses of the town of San Juan in Puerto Rico.
When Columbus discovered the island in 1493, he named it San Juan Bautista.
Later, Juan Ponce de Leon established its capital city on the north coast, at a beautiful anchorage, a "rich port": (a) Puerto Rico.
In a few years’ time the name of the town was "switched", it became San Juan, and the island became Puerto Rico.
This view of San Juan is actually a mirror image of the harbour, with its main fortress of San Felipe del Morro on a buff at the extremity of the protective peninsula.
Notice the flag flying over the castle in the foreground; it bears the Cross of Burgundy which was the standard colours for Spanish colonies.

http://www.larosedesvents.biz/2274.htm
Spain 1972 5ptas sg 167, scott?
Attachments
san juan harbour view.jpg
Image (4).jpg

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