Stamps issued in 1970 to commemorate 80 years of annexation of Easter Island to Chile. In the stamps appear captain Policarpo Toro and a map of Easter Island.
Policarpo Toro took part in many events of his time. In 1871, he was sent to the recently founded Punta Arenas, the Southern most city in the world, to urbanize and organize the new city. In 1876, captain Toro traveled to England to supervise the building of battleship Cochrane for the Chilean Navy. During his staying in England, a war begun between Russia and the Ottoman Empire in 1877, captain Toro joined the British Navy and served in the Mediterranean and Middle East.
In 1879, when Chile declared war to Peru and Bolivia, Policarpo Toro returned to his country and was present in most of the naval war actions.
After the war, Captain Toro was sent to Costa Rica and at his return he landed in Easter Island for a short time. He was very moved with the condition of the islanders, so he wrote a letter to the Chilean President, Jose Manuel Balmaceda, who ordered Toro to begin negotiations in order to acquire the island. In 1887, Toro traveled to Tahiti to meet Easter Island owner, the Englishman John Brander, who lived in the French Polynesia. Finally, in 1888, the Chilean government paid 6,000 sterling pounds to the owner and the islander population, and 5,000 francs to the Catholic mission that was established in the island. The population of Easter Island at the time it became Chilean territory was 201 inhabitants.
