title: Postage stamps and postal history of Venezuela
text: # Postage stamps and postal history of Venezuela
  
  This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Venezuela.
  
  Venezuela is a country on the northern coast of South America. It is a continental mainland with numerous islands located off its coastline in the Caribbean Sea. The republic is a former Spanish colony, that won its independence in 1821.
  
  ## First stamps
  
  The first stamps of the Venezuela were issued on 1 January 1859.
  
  Venezuela supported its territorial claim in the Venezuela Crisis of 1895 by printing an 1896 postage stamp with a map showing Guyana up to the east bank of the Essequibo River as "Guayana Venezolana". Guyana years later responded with a series of overprints “ESSEQUIBO IS OURS”.
  
  ## British stamps
  
  British stamps were used at La Guaira between 1865 and 1880 which may be identified by the cancel C60. British stamps used at Ciudad Bolivar (1868-80) had the cancel D22.
  
  