Postage stamps and brief postal history of Portugal
The early issues of the postage stamps of Portugal appeared around 1853. Their design adopted the head of the monarch without any features that was simply embossed on a coloured background.
The first pictorial issue came out in 1894 for commemorating the 500th anniversary of the birth of Henry the Navigator. Also, in 1898, the anniversary of Vasco da Gama voyage to India (1497 – 1498) was celebrated by another stamp issue.
The designs from the latter stamp were adopted for postage stamps for Africa with that inscription. These stamps were for general issue for the colonies.
The definitive postage stamps of 1910 were overprinted “REPUBLICA” after the revolution and the first republican issue was familiar to the French Ceres type of 1912.
Apart from the interesting stamps of Cabral flight from Portugal to Brazil in 1922 and the 400th anniversary of the birth of epic poet de Camoens, by some collectors, the designs seem to be average.
In 1943, stamps depicting the caravel appeared and in 1953 we have the medieval knight.