Luís Gonçalves was born in 1562 in the Azores and, after being a soldier in India, joined the Jesuits in Goa and adopted the name of Bento de Góis. He was part of the third Jesuit mission to the mogul in Lahore. Góis became fluent in Persian and knowledgeable of Muslim customs.
At the time, there was uncertainty whether the Kingdom of Cathay reported by Marco Polo three centuries before was in fact China. Góis is chosen by his superiors to settle the matter. Posing as an Armenian trader, Góis becomes the first European to travel inland from India to China, over Afghanistan, the Hindu Kush and the Pamir mountains, along dangerous roads and across regions under different rulers. After traveling over 4000 miles for more than 3 years, the small caravan he leads is prevented of further travel by the Chinese authorities, in the first city entered after passing the Great Wall. He notifies the Jesuits in Beijing but when they finally arrive, they find Góis in very poor health and he dies 11 days later, aged 45.
His extensive travel in Central Asia, the only recorded European crossing between expeditions in the 13th (Marco Polo’s) and 19th centuries, helped shape subsequent maps of the region, identifying Cathay with China and Cambalu with Beijing.
The stamps were designed by Domingos Rebelo, engraved by Álvaro Lucas, lithographed by the Mint on wove paper sheets of 5×10 stamps with perforation 13½ (1$00 stamp) and 12 (8$00 stamp), and circulated from 14 February 1968 to 30 April 1975.
| Value | Print run | Afinsa | Gibbons | Michel | Scott | Yvert |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.00 | 9,000,000 | 1020 | 1335 | 1049 | 1017 | 1030 |
| 8.00 | 1,000,000 | 1021 | 1336 | 1050 | 1018 | 1031 |
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