Ross Karlan, Georgetown University and the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery

Primary Source Links:

• Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea
  • English Translation
  • Portuguese Original
    
• Caminha Letter
  • Portuguese
  • English (not open source)
    
• The Lusiad, by Luís de Camões
  • English
  • Portuguese

Discussion Questions:

1. How do Zurara and Caminha represent the “other”  in the colonial space? Are there similarities or differences between how they describe Brazil/Brazilians and Guinea/Guineans?

2. In Luis de Camões’ Lusiads, what is the role of genre? How does genre shape Camões’ authorship or audience reception? Are there moments where Camões addresses this directly?

Further reading:

Blackmore, Josiah. Moorings: Portuguese Expansion and the Writing of Africa. University of Minnesota Press, 2009.

Russell, Peter Edward. Prince Henry “the Navigator”: A Life. Yale Univ. Press, 2001.

Russell-Wood, A. J. R. The Portuguese Empire, 1415-1808: A World on the Move. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998.

Williams, Jerry M. “Pero Vaz de Caminha: The Voice of the Luso-Brazilian Chronicle.” Luso-Brazilian Review, vol. 28, no. 2, 1991, pp. 59–72.

To Cite this Page

Karlan, Ross. “Teaching Portugal’s Age of Expansion and Exploration,” Middle Ages for Educators, April 9, 2020. Accessed[date]. http://archive.lauramorreale.com/middleagesforeducators/videos/teaching-portugals-age-of-expansion-and-exploration-by-ross-karlan/