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Leo Africanus: The Man Who Wrote Timbuktu for Europe
In the early 16th century, a young Muslim diplomat from Granada named al-Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Wazzan was captured by Christian pirates and presented to Pope Leo X. Forced to convert, he took the name Giovanni Battista Ramusio, but is better known as Leo Africanus. His book 'Description of Africa' became the first comprehensive account of West Africa available in Europe—and it shaped the European imagination of Timbuktu for centuries. But how reliable was it? Leo Africanus had actually visited Timbuktu in 1510, during the Songhai Empire's golden age under Askia Muhammad. He…
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