The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea, Vol 1

by Gomes Eanes de Zurara, C. Raymond Beazley (Translator), Edgar Prestage (Translator)

The publications of the Hakluyt Society (founded in 1846) made available edited (and sometimes translated) early accounts of exploration. The first series, which ran from 1847 to 1899, consists of 100 books containing published or previously unpublished works by authors from Christopher Columbus to Sir Francis Drake, and covering voyages to the New World, to China and Japan, to Russia and to Africa and India. Gomes Eanes de Zurara (c.1410-1474) was a Portuguese writer appointed to chronicle the life of Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460) and the expeditions he sponsored. Zurara's chronicle of the discovery of Guinea appeared in this two-volume English translation in 1896-1899. The editors' preface includes an account of the voyages of exploration along the African coast sponsored by Prince Henry until 1448, together with biographical information about the author. Volume 1 contains chapters 1-40 of the Chronicle.

Genres: Nonfiction

220 pages, Paperback

First published April 14, 2011

About the author

Gomes Eanes de Zurara (c. 1410 – c. 1474), sometimes spelled Eannes or Azurara, was a Portuguese chronicler of the European Age of Discovery, the most notable after Fernão Lopes.
Zurara adopted the career of letters in middle life. He probably entered the royal library as assistant to Fernão Lopes during the reign of King Edward of Portugal (1433–1438), and he had sole charge of it in 1452. His Chronicle of the Siege and Capture of Ceuta, a supplement (third part) to Lopes's Chronicle of King John I, dates from 1450, and three years later he completed the first draft of the Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea, our authority for the early Portuguese voyages of discovery down the African coast and in the ocean, more especially for those undertaken under the auspices of Prince Henry the Navigator. It contains some account of the life work of that prince, and it has biographical as well as geographical interest.

Reviews

[Joe Defazio]

Ibram X. Kendi contends that this author is the source of racism. I believe him, as well as John Biewen.
https://lithub.com/ibram-x-kendi-how-...
https://www.ted.com/talks/john_biewen...

[Pallas Nelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

homeslices this may be an important historial record but it's boring as heck. props to the translator though, i'm sure they did the text justice. 3/5 it's both dry and morally repulsive but i feel bad rating a historical chronicle on how fun it was to read, so. don't read it for fun. read it for college, because you're required to.