The Cosmography and Geography of Africa

Leo Africanus, Anthony Ossa-Richardson, Richard Oosterhoff

$26.99

Paperback

In stock
Ready to ship

QTY:

English

Penguin
06 June 2023

History; African history; Early modern history: c 1450 to c 1700; Historical geography; Classic travel writing

The first new translation in over 400 years of one of the great works of the Renaissance- an African diplomat's guide to Africa

In 1518, al-Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Wazzan, a Moroccan diplomat, was seized by pirates while travelling in the Mediterranean. Brought before Pope Leo X, he was persuaded to convert to Christianity, in the process taking the name Johannes Leo Africanus. Acclaimed in the papal court for his learning, Leo would in time write his masterpiece, The Cosmography and the Geography of Africa.

The Cosmography was the first book about Africa, and the first book written by a modern African, to reach print. It would remain central to the European understanding of Africa for over 300 years, with its descriptions of lands, cities and peoples giving a singular vision of the vast continent- its urban bustle and rural desolation, its culture, commerce and warfare, its magical herbs and strange animals.

Yet it is not a mere catalogue of the exotic- Leo also invited his readers to acknowledge the similarity and relevance of these lands to the time and place they knew. For this reason, The Cosmography and Geography of Africa remains significant to our understanding not only of Africa, but of the world and how we perceive it.

By: Leo Africanus
Translated by: Anthony Ossa-Richardson, Richard Oosterhoff
Imprint: Penguin
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 196mm, Width: 128mm, Spine: 28mm
Weight: 380g
ISBN: 9780241543931
ISBN 10: 0241543932
Pages: 560
Publication Date: 06 June 2023
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Leo Africanus (Author) Born al-Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Wazzan in Granada and raised in Fez, Johannes Leo Africanus was a sixteenth-century diplomat and scholar who, in the court of Pope Leo X, produced the first guide to the geography and culture of North Africa, The Cosmography and Geography of Africa. Anthony Ossa-Richardson (Translator) Antony Ossa-Richardson is Lecturer in Early Modern Literature at University College London. His most recent book is A History of Ambiguity (Princeton, 2019). Richard Oosterhoff (Translator) Richard Oosterhoff is Lecturer in History at the University of Edinburgh, and author of Making Mathematical Culture- University and Print in the Circle of Lef vre d' taples (Oxford, 2018).