Leo Africanus (novel)

Infobox Book |
name = Leo Africanus
title_orig = Léon, l'Africain
translator = Peter Sluglett


image_caption = First paperback edition cover
author = Amin Maalouf
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = Lebanon
language = French
series =
subject =
genre = Historical novel
publisher = New Amsterdam Books
release_date = 1986
english_release_date = 1992
media_type = Print (Paperback)
pages = 360 pp
isbn = ISBN 1-56131-022-0
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"Leo Africanus" is a 1986 novel by Amin Maalouf, depicting the life of the mysterious Renaissance traveller Leo Africanus. Since very little is actually known about his life, fills in the historical episodes, placing Leo in the company of many of the key historical figures of his time, including three popes, (Leo X, Adrian VI, and Pope Clement VII), two Ottoman emperors (Selim I and Suleiman the Magnificent), with appearances by Boabdil (the last Moorish king of Granada), Askia Mohammad I of the Songhai Empire, Ferdinand of Spain, and Francis I of France, as well as the artist Raphael and other key political and cultural figures of the period.

Plot introduction

The book is divided into four sections, each organized year by year to describe a key period of Leo Africanus's life, and each named after the city that played the major role in his life at the time: Granada, Fez, Cairo, and Rome. While filled with biographical hypotheses and historical unlikelihoods, the book offers a vivid description of the Renaissance world, with the decline of the traditional Muslim kingdoms and the hope inspired by the Ottoman Empire, as it grew to threaten Europe and restore Muslim unity.

The book is based on true life experiences which took Leo Africanus almost everywhere in the Islamic occupied Mediterranean, from southern Morocco to Arabia, and across the Sahara. Being able to distinguish fact from fiction in this book is difficult as it is historical fiction, but this is not important as reading is enjoyable and adventurous.

Major themes

This novel explores confrontations between Islam and Christianity as well as the mutual influence that the two religions had on each other and on the people they governed. Arguably, it is not necessary to have a great understanding or knowledge concerning the Renaissance time period or even a have a great understanding of the Crusades to be able to enjoy this book.

One of the book's strengths is the way that Maalouf uses historical events to tie up the loose ends and to fill in the gaps. That is, his use of history invites and entices the reader to learn more about these actual events.