Latest / Timbuktu: Africa's Forgotten Center of Knowledge — Fexingo History
Leo Africanus and the European Invention of Timbuktu
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how Timbuktu entered the European imagination through the writings of Leo Africanus, a 16th-century diplomat and scholar captured by pirates and gifted to Pope Leo X. They trace his journey from Fez to Timbuktu, his nine-month stay as a diplomat under Askia Muhammad, and his eventual capture and forced conversion. Lucas explains how Leo's book, "Description of Africa," became the definitive European source on the continent for centuries, mixing firsthand observation with classical and medieval stereotypes. The episode also delves into how…
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