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Latvian Tobago.

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    Posted: 12 December 2021 at 02:20
Thank you for this information on the Latvijas Tobago stamps (and thank you for the stamps themselves, which I got yesterday!). Yes, it is a really strange piece of history that the Latvian-German dukedom of Courland decided to acquire a colony on the other side of the Atlantic. Unluckily, it did not work out long term, or we would maybe have an island in the Caribbean where Latvian and German would be the main languages Big smile

Actually, Tobago features in my personal (not only philatelic) history, too:

Posta tal Musograd 2018 - Air Mail issues

Those "Federated Micronations" stamps actually show "Little Tobago", an island at the north east tip of Tobago, and a view from the mountains in the vicinity of Speyside, Tobago. The typo (if you discover it) was on purpose, but won't be explained here. 
Juergen Schwarz
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Panterra Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 July 2018 at 23:05

Latvian Tobago 2018 Centenary of Latvia's independence proclamation in 1918. 

This miniature sheet of eight stamps celebrates the centenary of the proclamation of the Latvian independent Republic in 1918, & comprises two values:

15 santimi ... The Lacplesis.

30 santimi ... Riga port in the year 1900.

===

The first successful Tobago settlement was founded in 1652 by 80 Latvian Courlander families in Great Courland Bay. It was called Jekabspills and the island was named New Courland.

===

Originally posted by Wikipedia Wikipedia wrote:

Lacplesis is an epic poem by Andrejs Pumpurs, a Latvian poet, who wrote it around 1872, based on local legends. Lacplesis is regarded as the Latvian national epic. The poem recounts the life of the legendary hero Lacplesis ("Bear-slayer"), chosen by the gods to become a hero of his people. At the castle of Lord Aizkrauklis, he spies on the activities of the witch Spidala, who is under the control of the Devil, & the holy man Kangars, who is in reality a traitor plotting with crusaders to replace the old gods with Christianity. Spidala tries to drown Lacplesis by throwing him into a whirlpool in the Daugava, but he is rescued by the goddess Staburadze & taken to her underwater crystal castle. There Lacplesis meets & falls in love with Laimdota. Shortly afterwards, Lacplesis becomes friends with another hero, Koknesis ("Wood-bearer"), and they study together at the Castle of Laimdota's father.

Kangars provokes a war with the Estonians, & Lacplesis sets out to fight the giant Kalapuisis, to win the hand of Laimdota. He defeats the giant, & the two make peace & decide to join forces to fight their common enemy, the German missionaries, led by the priest Dietrich. Lacplesis performs another heroic deed by spending the night in a sunken castle, breaking the curse & allowing the castle to rise into the air again. Laimdota & Lacplesis are engaged.

In other episodes, Laimdota reads from the old books about the Creation & ancient Latvian teachings.


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Post Options Post Options   Quote Panterra Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 July 2018 at 03:24
The island of Tobago in the Caribbean was originally a colony of Latvia.  These days, it seems to be known as the independent country of Trinidad & Tobago.

I was made aware of this fact a few years ago by a Latvian friend.

It made me wonder what would have happened if it had remained a Latvian colony?  Among other things, it would, of course, have its own stamps!

Originally posted by Wikipedia Wikipedia wrote:

On May 20, 1654, the ship Das Wappen der Herzogin von Kurland ("The Arms of the Duchess of Courland") arrived carrying 45 cannon, 25 officers, 124 Courlander soldiers and 80 families of colonists to occupy Tobago. Captain Willem Mollens declared the island "New Courland" (Neu-Kurland). A fort was erected on the southwest of the island, also called Fort Jacobus (Fort James) with the surrounding town called Jacobsstadt (Jamestown). Other features were given Courlandish names such as Great Courland Bay, Jacobs (James) Bay, Courland Estate, Neu-Mitau ("New Jelgava"), Libau Bay and Little Courland Bay.

In their first year on the island the Courlanders built an Evangelical Lutheran church. The colony was successful, but the Netherlands was not willing to accede to losing the West Indies and replied by establishing its own colony nearby a few months later. Thus, the small Couronian colony soon became overshadowed by a second Dutch colony. While 120 Couronian colonists had come in 1657, the Dutch colony reached a population of 1,200 by the next year, when 500 French Protestant refugees fleeing Catholic persecution joined them.

Goods exported to Europe included sugar, tobacco, coffee, cotton, ginger, indigo, rum, cocoa, tortoise shells, tropical birds and their feathers.



Latvian Tobago 2009 definitive set in sheetlet.

Today, I collect
Latvia, so to have  some stamps of Latvian Tobago is an interesting sideline. The first set shows sunset at Pigeon Point, Tobago on the 30 santimi, and raspberries (the favorite crop of the colonists, which continues to be widely appreciated everywhere) on the 15 santimi.

I'm happy to trade some with any Latvia collectors or cinderella philatelists out there. PM me.
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