Leo Africanus (al-Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Wazzan al-Fasi al-Granati, 1485-1554) was a diplomat, merchant traveller and scholar who famously voyaged from Timbuktu to the Niger River and wrote 'The History and Description of Africa' (La Descrittione dell'Africa, 1526). Captured by Mediterranean pirates, he so impressed them with his learning and linguistic ability, that they gifted him as a slave to Pope Leo X (1498 -1526).
More about: Leo AfricanusDefinition
Timeline
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1485 - 1554Life of the writer, traveller, and scholar Leo Africanus.
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c. 1485 - c. 1492Leo Africanus is born and lives in Granada.
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c. 1492Leo Africanus migrates with his family from Granada to Fez.
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c. 1492 - c. 1507Leo Africanus attends the local Arabic grammar school, then madrasa and Al-Qarawiyyin University.
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c. 1509 - 1510Leo Africanus accompanies his uncle on an important diplomatic mission to West Africa and Timbuktu.
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c. 1519Leo Africanus is kidnapped by Christian pirates returning to Fez. Impressed with his knowledge and ability with languages, they presented him to the Vatican Pope Leo X as a gift.
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6 Jan 1520Al-Hassan al-Wazzan converts to Christianity and becomes Joannes Leo de Medici aka Leo Africanus.
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c. 1527Leo Africanus escapes from Rome and returns to Tunis, North Africa.
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1527Leo Africanus completes his most important work: The History and Description of Africa.
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c. 1554Leo Africanus dies in Tunis.
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1556The History and Description of Africa by Leo Africanus is translated into French and Latin.
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1600The History and Description of Africa by Leo Africanus is translated into English by John Pory of London's Hakluyt Society.
