In 1965 Brazil issued a single stamp to honor the centenary of Marshall Cândido Mariano da Silva Róndon’s birth (1865-1958). Róndon was Brazil’s greatest explorer, and an expert on Brazil’s Indians. He was born in the state of Mato Grosso, in the village of Mimoso. From his father he inherited Portuguese, Spanish and Guaná Indian blood, from his mother, Terena and Bororo Indian blood. He was the founder and first head of the government’s Indian Protection Service, formed in 1910. He was elevated to the rank of Marshall in 1955. He was also the head of the Comissão de Linhas Telegráficas Estratégicas de Mato Grosso ao Amazonas.

         In addition to a picture of Róndon, the stamp features a quiver of arrows and a feather headdress characteristic of the Bororo people of eastern Brazil, and a map. The map is interesting because it does not cover the whole country, but only the western part where Rondon had been involved with the telegraph and the Indians. The  black circle marks the location of Brasilia, the Federal District which was inaugerated in 1960.
     Brazil issued another stamp in 1985 to commemorate the 120 anniversary of the birth of Marshal Róndon (Scott 1996). In 1982 the newly created state of Róndon was named for him.

      In 1914 Theodore Roosevelt lost his bid for a second term as President of the United States. He then went to South America and joined Róndon on an expedition to the interior of Brazil, Expedicao Scientifica Roosevelt-Róndon, to explore Amazon River tributaries. One which they mapped in detail was the Rio da Dúvida (River of Doubt), later renamed the Río Roosevelt (and again renamed Rio Teodoro), with a branch named the Río Kermit. Roosevelt wrote Through the Brazilian Wilderness about the expedition.