Luís Vaz Camões

Luís Vaz de Camões was born around 1524 in Lisbon, Portugal, into a family of minor nobility with Galician roots. Educated at the University of Coimbra, he absorbed the classical learning and humanist ideals that would shape his masterwork. His early life in Lisbon was marked by romantic entanglements and a rebellious temperament that led to his banishment from court. In 1553, he sailed for India, beginning nearly two decades of wandering through the Portuguese empire in Goa, Macau, and Mozambique. He fought in military campaigns, was shipwrecked off the Mekong Delta coast, and endured imprisonment and destitution. According to legend, he saved the manuscript of The Lusiad by holding it above the waves as he swam ashore. He returned to Lisbon in 1570 and published The Lusiad in 1572, receiving a modest royal pension. He died in poverty in 1580, reportedly on the same day or near the time that Portugal lost its independence to Spain. This author hub collects 1 work in the Canon Compass ranking, led by The Lusiad.