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Matthew Patay's
Note of the Month
March 2008
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Map and flag images provided by Graphic Maps
This month's featured note
is from Venezuela.
The denomination is 2 Bolivares and the Standard Catalog of World Paper Money
(SCWPM) Number is P-New.
The note is dated 2007 but is too new to be included in the current catalog.
(front)
The banknote is brown and red-brown on multicolored underprint.
Francisco de Miranda (March 28, 1750 –
July 14, 1816) a Venezuelan revolutionary is at
center bottom.
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The following information
was obtained from:
Wikipedia the online
Encyclopedia
Francisco de Miranda
(For the full article, please refer to
the link above.)
Sebastián Francisco de Miranda y Rodríguez (March 28, 1750 – July 14, 1816), commonly known as Francisco de Miranda, was a Venezuelan revolutionary. Although his own plans for the independence of the Spanish American colonies failed, he is regarded as a forerunner of Simón Bolívar, who during the South American wars of independence successfully liberated a vast portion of South America. Miranda led a romantic and adventurous life. An idealist, he developed a visionary plan to liberate and unify all of Spanish America. His military initiatives failed in 1812, and he was handed over to his enemies, dying four years later in a Spanish prison dungeon. Within fourteen years of his death, most of Spanish America was independent.
Early Life
Sebastian Francisco de Miranda was born on March 28th, 1750 in Caracas, Venezuela. His father, Sebastian de Miranda Ravelo, was wealthy merchant from the Canary Islands, and his mother, Francisca Antonia Rodríguez de Espinoza, was wealthy Venezuelan. Growing up, Miranda enjoyed a wealthy upbringing, attending the finest privet schools, while being slightly discriminated against for his roots. Miranda was not necessarily a member of high society growing up, as his heritage was continually put into question byt the Criollo Aristocracy. As a result of this, Miranda grew up very conceited (At one point tracing his ancestry back to the Dukes of Miranda in Spain, and finding his family seal) and arrogant. This would eventually hurt him, as it resulted in insubordination, while in the Army
South America
He is mostly known for his contribution in the struggle for independence of the colonies in Latin America. Miranda envisioned an independent empire consisting of all the territories that had been under Spanish and Portuguese rule, stretching from the Mississippi River to Cape Horn. This empire was to be under the leadership of a hereditary emperor called the "Inca", to appease the Native Americans, and would have a bicameral legislature. He conceived the name "Gran Colombia" for this empire, after the explorer Christopher Columbus.
In November 1805 Miranda travelled to New York, where he rekindled his acquaintance with Colonel William S. Smith, who introduced him to merchant Samuel G. Ogden, the owner of a ship called the Leander. Miranda then went to Washington for private meetings with President Thomas Jefferson and his Secretary of State James Madison. This set in motion the first filibuster trial in America, a violation of the Neutrality Act of 1794 when the Leander, its crew, and a force of soldiers of fortune were captured on their way to fight the Spanish in Venezuela.[1]
With British help, Miranda led an attempted invasion of Venezuela in 1806. He landed at the port of La Vela de Coro, where the tricolour Venezuelan flag, which was made in the Haitian city of Jacmel, was raised for the first time. Among the volunteers who served under him in this revolt was David G. Burnet of the United States, who would later serve as interim president of the Republic of Texas after its secession from Mexico in 1836.
After Venezuela achieved de facto independence on April 19, 1810, Simón Bolívar persuaded Miranda to return to his native land, where he was made a general in the revolutionary army. When the country formally declared independence on July 5, 1811, he assumed dictatorial powers.
The Spanish forces counterattacked (see Venezuelan War of Independence); and Miranda, fearing a brutal and hopeless defeat, signed an armistice with them in July 1812. Bolívar and other revolutionaries regarded his surrender as treasonous; they thwarted Miranda's attempt to escape, and (in one of Bolívar's most morally dubious acts) he handed him over to the Spanish Royal Army. Miranda never saw freedom again. He was spared execution, but died in a prison cell in Cádiz, Spain, in 1816.
An oil painting by the Venezuelan artist Arturo Michelena titled, Miranda en la Carraca (1896), which portrays the hero in the Spanish jail where he died, has become a graphic symbol of Venezuelan history, and has immortalized the image of Miranda for generations of Venezuelans.
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(back)
Boto or Amazon River Dolphin are on back.
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The following information
was obtained from:
Wikipedia the online
Encyclopedia
Boto or Amazon River Dolphin
(For the full article, please refer to
the link above.)
The Boto, Boutu, Amazon River Dolphin or Pink River Dolphin[1] (Inia geoffrensis) is a freshwater river dolphin endemic to the Amazon River and Orinoco River systems. The largest of the river dolphins, this species is not to be confused with the Tucuxi (Sotalia fluviatilis), whose range overlaps that of the Boto but is not a true river dolphin.
The IUCN lists various other names to describe this species including Amazon Dolphin, Boto Vermelho, Boto Cor-de-Rosa, Bouto, Bufeo, Dauphin de l'Amazone, Inia, Pink Dolphin, Wee Quacker, Pink Freshwater Dolphin, Pink Porpoise, and Tonina.
Taxonomy
The first type specimen was described by Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville in 1817.
1998 classification lists a single species, I. geoffrensis, in the genus Inia, with three recognised subspecies:
* I.g. geoffrensis - Amazon basin population (excluding Madeira river drainage area, above the Teotonio Rapids in Bolivia)
* I.g. boliviensis - Amazon basin population in the Madeira drainage area
* I.g. humboldtiana - Orinoco basin population
Some older classifications listed the boliviensis population as a separate species.
Physical Description
The boto can vary in color from a memorable bright pink color through to a murky brown, gray, blue-gray or creamy white.[2] When young, the dolphins are a light gray and develop in color later on. When they are excited or surprised, they become pinker - almost as if they are blushing. Adults are typically 2.5 metres (8 feet) in length and weigh 150 kilograms (330 pounds). The flippers are large compared with body size and are curved back. The Boto does not have a dorsal fin, though a bumpy raised ridge on the back shows the evolutionary remnants of one. It has a prominent, long, thin beak with 25-35 pairs of teeth in both the upper and lower jaws. The front teeth are peglike, whereas the rear teeth are flatter with cusps. The two tooth types serve different functions: seizing prey and crushing, respectively. Botos generally feed from the bottom of the river and their preferred diet consists of crabs and small fish. Small turtles are also occasionally eaten.
This species is not often seen in groups larger than 5, but in rare circumstances up to 20 may be seen together. Unlike other dolphins, the Boto's cervical (neck) vertebrae are not fused, allowing the head a wide range of movement. Though their eyes are small they can see quite well, except for their bulging cheeks hampering downward view. This, however, is overcome by swimming upside-down.
Conservation
By the precarious standards of the river dolphins, the Boto is the most secure species in the superfamily. Nevertheless, the 1994 and 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species classified it as vulnerable. In contrast to the rapidly dwindling areas of population of the recently-extinct Baiji and the Ganges and Indus River Dolphin, the area populated by the Boto seems to have remained fairly steady over time. Although complete surveys have not been taken owing to the inaccessibility of the rainforests, it is estimated that the total population of Botos runs into tens of thousands.
Botos have never been directly hunted. However fishermen are known to have occasionally killed them to protect their catch and fishing gear. It is not known whether this practice is widespread enough to damage local sub-populations. Since 1988 this practice has been outlawed in Brazil and Bolivia and in protected areas of Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela and Colombia.
The rising human population in the Amazon and Orinoco basins gives scientists cause for concern. Several damming projects of the kind that have devastated the recently-extinct Baiji populations in Asia have been proposed for the region for which environmentalists are vigorously opposed.
Some Boto deaths occur to mercury poisoning of their environment. These deaths typically occur close to gold mines; mercury is widely used to separate gold from surrounding rock.
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For more information about Venezuela visit:
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