What is "caramuru"

Caramuru (-1557) was the Tupi name of the Portuguese colonist Diogo Álvares Correia, also known as Diego Alvarez Correa.

Caramuru is an epic poem written by Brazilian Augustinian friar Santa Rita Durão. It was published in 1781, and it is one of the most famous Indianist works of Brazilian Neoclassicism — the other being Basílio da Gama's O Uraguai.

Inspired by Luís de Camões' The Lusiads, it is divided in ten cantos. The poem tells the story of the famous Portuguese sailor Diogo Álvares Correia, also known as "Caramuru" ( Old Tupí for "Son of the Thunder"), who shipwrecked on the shores of present-day Bahia and had to live among the Indians. The poem also alludes to Correia's wife, Catarina Paraguaçu, as a seer, being able to foresee the Dutch invasions of Brazil.