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JOHANNES LEO (c. 1494-1552)

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 441 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JOHANNES See also:

LEO (c. 1494-1552)  , in See also:Italian GIOVANNI See also:LEO or LEONE, usually called LEO See also:AFRICANUS, sometimes ELIBERITANUS (i.e. of See also:Granada), and properly known among the See also:Moors as Al See also:Hassan See also:Ibn Mahommed Al Wezaz Al Fasi, was the author of a Descrizione dell' Affrica, or Africae descriptio, which See also:long ranked as the best authority on See also:Mahommedan See also:Africa . See also:Born probably at Granada of a See also:noble Moorish stock (his See also:father was a landowner; an See also:uncle of his appears as an See also:envoy from See also:Fez to See also:Timbuktu), he received a See also:great See also:part of his See also:education at Fez, and while still very See also:young began to travel widely in the See also:Barbary States . In 1512 we trace him at See also:Morocco, See also:Tunis, Bugia and See also:Constantine; in 1513 we find him returning from Tunis to Morocco; and before the See also:close of the latter See also:year he seems to have started on his famous See also:Sudan and See also:Sahara journeys (1513-1515) which brought him to Timbuktu, to many other regions of the Great See also:Desert and the See also:Niger See also:basin (See also:Guinea, Melli, Gago, Walata, Aghadez, See also:Wangara, See also:Katsena, &c.), and apparently to See also:Bornu and See also:Lake See also:Chad . In 1516–1517 he travelled to See also:Constantinople, probably visiting See also:Egypt on the way; it is more uncertain when he visited the three Arabias (Deserla, See also:Felix and Pelraea), See also:Armenia and "Tartary" (the last See also:term is perhaps satisfied by his stay at See also:Tabriz) . His three See also:Egyptian journeys, immediately after the See also:Turkish See also:conquest, all probably See also:fell between 1517 and 152o; on one of these he ascended the See also:Nile from See also:Cairo to See also:Assuan . As he was returning from Egypt about 1520 he was captured by pirates near the See also:island of Gerba, and was ultimately presented as a slave to Leo X . The See also:pope discovered his merit, assigned him a See also:pension, and having persuaded him to profess the See also:Christian faith, stood See also:sponsor at his See also:baptism, and bestowed on him (as See also:Ramusio says) his own names, Johannes and Leo . The new convert, having made himself acquainted with Latin and Italian, taught Arabic (among his pupils was See also:Cardinal Egidio Antonini, See also:bishop of See also:Viterbo); he also wrote books in both the Christian See also:tongues he had acquired . His Description of Africa was first, apparently, written in Arabic, but the See also:primary See also:text now remaining is that of the Italian version, issued by the author at See also:Rome, on the loth of See also:March 1526, three years after Pope Leo's See also:death, though originally undertaken at the latter's See also:suggestion . The See also:Moor seems to have lived on Rome for some See also:time longer, but he returned to Africa some time before his death at Tunis in 1552; according to some, he renounced his See also:Christianity and returned to See also:Islam; but the later part of his career is obscure . The Descrizione dell' Affrica in its See also:original Arabic MS. is said to have existed for some time in the library of Vincenzo Pinelli (i535—16o1) ; the Italian text, though issued in 1526, was first printed by Giovanni Battista Ramusio in his Navigationi et Viaggi (vol. i.) of 155o . This was reprinted in 1554, 1563, 1588, &c .

In 1556 See also:

Jean Temporal executed at See also:Lyons an admirable See also:French version from the Italian (Historiale description de l'Afrique); and in the same year appeared at See also:Antwerp both See also:Christopher See also:Plantin's and Jean Bellere's rated issues of Temporal's See also:translation, and a new (very inaccurate) Latin version by Joannes Florianus, Joannis Leonis Africani de lobos Africae descriptione libri i.-ix . The latter was reprinted in 1558, 1559 (See also:Zurich), and 1632 (See also:Leiden), and served as the basis of See also:John Pory's Elizabethan See also:English translation, made at the suggestion of See also:Richard See also:Hakluyt (A See also:Geographical Historic of Africa, See also:London, 16o0) . Pory's version was reissued, with notes, maps, &c., by See also:Robert See also:Brown, E . G . Ravenstein, &c . (3 vols., Hakluyt Society, London, 1896) . An excellent See also:German translation was made by Lorsbach, from the Italian, in 1805 (Johann Leos See also:des Afrikaners Beschreebung von Afrika, Herborn) . See also See also:Francis See also:Moore's Travels into the inland parts of Africa (1738), containing a translation of Leo's See also:account of See also:negro kingdoms . Heinrich See also:Barth intended to have made a fresh version, with a commentary,, but was prevented by death ; as it is, his own great See also:works on the Sudan are the best elucidation of the Descrizione dell' Affrica . Leo also wrote lives of the Arab physicians and philosophers (De viris quibusdam illustribus apud Arabes; see J . A . See also:Fabricius, Bibliotheca Graeca, See also:Hamburg, 1726, xiii .

259-298) ; a See also:

Spanish-Arabic vocabulary, now lost, but noticed by Ramusio as having been consulted by the famous See also:Hebrew physician, See also:Jacob Mantino; a collection of Arabic epitaphs in and near Fez (the MS. of this Leo presented, it is said, to the See also:brother of the See also:king) ; and poems, alsolost . It is stated, moreover, that Leo intended See also:writing a See also:history of the Mahommedan See also:religion, an See also:epitome of Mahommedan See also:chronicles, and an account of his travels in See also:Asia and Egypt . (C . R .

End of Article: JOHANNES LEO (c. 1494-1552)
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