WRITER

Leo Africanus

1494 - 1554

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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). Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Leo Africanus is the 673rd most popular writer (down from 619th in 2019), the 203rd most popular biography from Spain (down from 179th in 2019) and the 20th most popular Spanish Writer.

Leo Africanus is most famous for his book, "The History and Description of Africa and of Its Inhabitants."

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Among WRITERS

Among writers, Leo Africanus ranks 673 out of 7,302. Before him are Luis de Góngora, Carlo Gozzi, Madame Roland, A. A. Milne, Magtymguly Pyragy, and Premchand. After him are Max Frisch, Bernard Gui, Longus, Faxian, Jaroslav Seifert, and Zecharia Sitchin.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1494, Leo Africanus ranks 10. Before him are Fuzûlî, Georgius Agricola, Pontormo, Bona Sforza, Rosso Fiorentino, and Jean Parisot de Valette. After him are Lucas van Leyden, Antoinette de Bourbon, Hans Sachs, William Tyndale, Oronce Finé, and Antonio de Mendoza. Among people deceased in 1554, Leo Africanus ranks 4. Before him are Lady Jane Grey, Piri Reis, and Francisco Vázquez de Coronado. After him are John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony, Sebastiano Serlio, João Manuel, Prince of Portugal, Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, Sibylle of Cleves, Thomas Wyatt the Younger, Hieronymus Bock, and Pedro Cieza de León.

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In Spain

Among people born in Spain, Leo Africanus ranks 203 out of 3,355. Before him are Peter II of Aragon (1174), Luis de Góngora (1561), Philip, Duke of Parma (1720), Alfonso VII of León and Castile (1105), Martin of Aragon (1356), and Pedro de Alvarado (1485). After him are Buenaventura Durruti (1896), Arnaldus de Villa Nova (1240), Raymond of Penyafort (1175), John I of Castile (1358), Alfonso IX of León (1171), and Ferdinand I of León (1016).

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Among WRITERS In Spain

Among writers born in Spain, Leo Africanus ranks 20. Before him are Juan Ramón Jiménez (1881), Gaius Julius Hyginus (-64), Joan Fuster (1922), Francisco de Quevedo (1584), Vicente Aleixandre (1898), and Luis de Góngora (1561). After him are Tirso de Molina (1579), Columella (4), Lucan (39), Judah Halevi (1079), Joseph of Anchieta (1534), and Antonio Machado (1875).

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