File:Sebastiano_del_Piombo_Portrait_of_a_Humanist.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Leo Africanus
Sign in to saveAlso known as Hasan bin Muhammed al-Wazzan al-Fasi, Joannes Leo Africanus
Andalusian author
OverviewAI-generated
Leo Africanus, born Hassan ibn Muhammad al-Wazzan al-Gharnati in Granada in 1500, was a male explorer, geographer, diplomat, and writer. He was educated at the University of al-Qarawiyyin and spoke Arabic, Hebrew, Italian, and Spanish. His religious background included ex-Muslims and Catholicism. He worked in Africa and Rome, and his notable work, *Description of Africa*, is held in the collection of the National Museum of World Cultures.
Other recorded works include *Ioannis Leonis Africani de totivs Africae descriptione libri IX*, *Cosmographia et geographia de Affrica*, *Descrizione dell' Africa, etc*, *Ioannis Leonis Africani Africæ descriptio IX. lib. absoluta*, and *De la descripción de Africa y de las cosas notables que en ella se encuentran*. Sources describe him in the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition, and New International Encyclopedia. He died in Tunis in 1600.
Synthesized by Vinony from 32 facts across 6 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, MusicBrainz, Crossref, Europeana Sparql, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Born
- ca. 1492
- Died
- ca. 1550.
- Works
- 13
Top works
- Ioannis Leonis Africani de totivs Africae descriptione libri IX ...
- Cosmographia et geographia de Affrica
- Descrizione dell' Africa, etc
- Ioannis Leonis Africani Africæ descriptio IX. lib. absoluta
- De la descripción de Africa y de las cosas notables que en ella se encuentran
via Open Library + Wikidata
Music · MusicBrainz
- Type
- Person
- Gender
- Male
- Origin
- France
- Active from
- 1916-08-24
- Active to
- 1993-07-14
Discography
via MusicBrainz · CC0
Recent publications · Crossref
5 total works indexed
- Random Forests
· 2001 · cited 115,978x
- The ERA5 global reanalysis
· 2020 · cited 24,186x
- Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019
· 2020 · cited 15,964x
- Astropy: A community Python package for astronomy
· 2013 · cited 13,560x
- Bagging predictors
· 1996 · cited 13,155x
via Crossref · CC0
Quotes
- “The ancient Africans were much addicted to idolatrie, even as certain of the Persians are at this day, some of whom worship the sunne, and others the fire, for their gods. For the saide Africans had in times past magnificent and most stately temples built and dedicated, as well to the honour of the sunne as of the fire. In these temples day and night they kept fire kindled, giving diligent heed that it might not at any time be extinguished.”
via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA
Key facts
- Born
- al-Hasan Muhammad al-Wazzan , c. 1494, Granada , Kingdom of Castile
- Died
- c. 1554 (aged c. 60), Tunis , Hafsid dynasty
- Occupations
- Diplomat, geographer, traveler and scientist
- Notable work
- Description of Africa
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Leo
- Gender
- male
- Place of birth
- Granada
- Place of death
- Tunis
- Occupation
- writer
- Educated at
- University of al-Qarawiyyin
- Languages spoken
- Spanish
- Native language
- Arabic
- Religion
- ex-Muslims
- Notable work
- Description of Africa
- Image
- Sebastiano del Piombo Portrait of a Humanist.jpg
- Work location
- Rome
Show 7 more facts
- described by source
- New International Encyclopedia
- Commons category
- Joannes Leo Africanus
- has works in the collection
- National Museum of World Cultures
- birth name
- حسن ابن محمد الوزان الغرناطي
- Commons Creator page
- Léon l'Africain
- date of birth
- 1496-00-00
- date of death
- 1550-00-00
via Wikidata · CC0
Works in European collections
6 objects attributed to Leo Africanus, held across European museums, libraries & archives · via Europeana
~9 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Johannes Leo Africanus (born al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Wazzān al-Zayyātī al-Fasī, ; c. 1494 – c. 1554) was an Andalusi diplomat and author who is best known for his 1526 book Cosmographia et geographia de Affrica, later published by Giovanni Battista Ramusio as Descrittione dell'Africa (Description of Africa) in 1550, centered on the geography of the Maghreb and Nile Valley. The book was regarded among his scholarly peers in Europe as the most authoritative treatise on the subject until the modern exploration of Africa. For this work, Leo became a household name among European geographers. He converted from Islam to Christianity and changed his name to Johannes Leo de Medicis (Arabic: يوحنا الأسد, romanized: Yuḥannā al-Asad). Leo possibly returned to North Africa in 1528.
Biography
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Leo Africanus” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.