Singapore Ship Definitives - 1980 Caravel 50 cents

Lately, I have been scanning the various stamps that I have. When I am free, I upload them onto this blog. It is pretty entertaining just to do so and besides, I think people like reading about stamps too since it is a pretty cool hobby where you basically learn a lot more about the things/history/people that is depicted on the various stamps.

The used stamp below was issued in 1980 and depicts a Caravel which is a kind of boat that was used by the Portugese in their exploration. Their speed and agility made it possible for the Portugese to travel down to India and eventually Asia where the spice trade was pretty profitable. Singapore was part of these cross-roads in the spice trade though I don't recall in my history lessons ever reading that it fell to Portugese or Spanish hands.

So the caravel was really an important invention and it did have an impact on the spice trade in Asia.