CAMOES, LUIS (VAZ) DE

English Lus Vaz De Camons, or Camoens born c. 1524, /25, Lisbon died June 10, 1580, Lisbon Portugal's great national poet, author of the epic poem Os Lusadas (1572; The Lusiads), which describes Vasco da Gama's discovery of the sea route to India. Cames had a permanent and unparalleled impact on Portuguese and Brazilian literature alike, due not only to his epic but also to his posthumously published lyric poetry.