Leo Africanus

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Leo Africanus was the Christianised name of Al-Hasan bin Muhammed al-Wazzan al-Fasi (Granada 1485-1554). A former inhabitant of Granada expelled by the Spanish in 1492, he settled in Morocco and studied in Fez As a very young man he accompanied his uncle on diplomatic missions throughout the maghreb and to the sub-Saharan kingdom of Ghana. Still a young man, he was captured by Christian pirates while travelling in the Mediterranean, and sold into the slavery. Presented to Pope Leo X. The Pope baptised and freed him, and, recognising his abilities, asked him to put together a survey of his knowledge of the continent of Africa. For many years he was the only known source of information on Sudan.

At the time he visited the Ghanaian city of Timbuktu, it was somewhat past its peak, but still a thriving Islamic city famous for its learning. "Timbuktu" was to become a byword in Europe as the most inaccessible of cities, but at the time Leo visited, it was the center of a busy trade carried on by Berbers in African products, gold, printed cottons and slaves, and in Islamic books. Leo is said to have died in 1554 in Tunis, having reconverted to Islam.

Recommended Reading

• Leo the African by Amin Maalouf.