ZURARA (AZURARA), GOMES EANES de. — Portuguese chronicler, b. in Azurara in 1410, d. in 1474 (?). Keeper of the historical archives of the "Torre do Tombo" in Lisbon, he is the most important ancient Portuguese chronicler after Fernão Lopes.
His work deals with Portuguese enterprises in Africa, presented with detailed information (often drawn from foreign sources, including Italian ones) and at the same time with realistic vividness; in his desire to adhere to the truth of events, Z. is inspired by a high sense of national historical mission, the "expansion of faith and empire" (to translate the famous expression that would later be used by the national poet Camões). To his main work, the *Chrónica da descoberta e da conquista da Guiné* to which we owe, among other things, the most effective portrayal of the great promoter of Portuguese maritime deeds, Don Enrico the Navigator, are added, among other works written, on the whole, at the instigation of King Don Alfonso V, the *Chrónica da tomada de Ceuta* and the *Chrónica de dom João*.