Johannes Leo Africanus 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 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. After he returned to North Africa in 1528, Leo reverted back to Islam.
Portrait of a Humanist, c. 1520. The identity of the sitter is unknown but suggested possibly to be Leo Africanus
The courtyard of the University of al-Qarawiyyin, Fez, Morocco, where al-Hasan (future Leo Africanus) studied.
Pope Leo X (center) was Leo's initial benefactor in Rome. His cousin, Giulio de' Medici (left) later became Pope Clement VII and continued the papal patronage of Leo.
The title page of the 1600 English edition of Leo Africanus's book on Africa.
University of al-Qarawiyyin
The University of al-Qarawiyyin, also written Al-Karaouine or Al Quaraouiyine, is a university located in Fez, Morocco. It was founded as a mosque by Fatima al-Fihri in 857–859 and subsequently became one of the leading spiritual and educational centers of the Islamic Golden Age. It was incorporated into Morocco's modern state university system in 1963 and officially renamed "University of Al Quaraouiyine" two years later. The mosque building itself is also a significant complex of historical Moroccan and Islamic architecture that features elements from many different periods of Moroccan history.
Courtyard of the mosque and its minaret
View of the Qarawiyyin Mosque on the skyline of central Fes el-Bali: the green-tiled roofs of the prayer hall and the minaret (white tower on the left) are visible.
Reconstruction of the 14th-century water clock from the dar al-muwaqqit of the Qarawiyyin Mosque (on display at the Istanbul Museum of the History of Science and Technology in Islam)
The Al-Attarine Madrasa (founded in 1323), just north of the Qarawiyyin Mosque