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Leo Africanus Research Paper

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Leo Africanus has been known with many names. He was born in in a Muslim family of Granada as Al-Hassan b. Muhammad Al-Wazzan Al-Zayyati before they moved to Fez in the rising of Christian Reconquista . It is claimed that hostile Spanish policy towards Muslim population in Granada drive the family to Africa and they settled in Fez of the western Maghrib. At the age of 17, he accompanied his uncle on a diplomatic mission to Timbuktu in the name of Wattasid Sultan of Fez . In 1518, a dramatic event happened where he was captured by Sicilian corsairs and subsequently presented to Pope Leo X on his return from a visit to Egypt (possibly also Istanbul), and a pilgrimage to Mecca. Within a year, he then got baptized by the Pope and his name changed

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