A geographical historie of Africa, written in Arabicke and Italian by Iohn Leo a More, borne in Granada, and brought vp in Barbarie. Wherein he hath at large described, not onely the qualities, situations, and true distances of the regions, cities, townes, mountaines, riuers, and other places throughout all the north and principall partes of Africa; but also the descents and families of their kings ... gathered partly out of his owne diligent obseruations, and partly out of the ancient records and chronicles of the Arabians and Mores. Before which, out of the best ancient and moderne writers, is prefixed a generall description of Africa, and also a particular treatise of all the maine lands and isles vndescribed by Iohn Leo. ... Translated and collected by Iohn Pory, lately of Goneuill and Caius College in Cambridge

To the Reader.

GIue me leaue (gentle Readers) if not to present vn∣to your knowledge, bicause some perhaps may aswel be informed as my selfe; yet, to call to your remem∣brance, some fewe particulars, concerning this Geographicall Historie, and Iohn Leo the au∣ther thereof.

Who albeit by birth a More, and by religion for many yeeres a Mahumetan: yet if you consider his Parentage, Witte, Education, Learning, Emploiments, Trauels, and his conuersion to Christianitie; you shall finde him not altogither vnfit to vndertake such an enterprize; nor vnwoorthy to be regarded.

First therefore his Parentage seemeth not to haue bin ignoble: seeing (as in his second booke himselfe testifieth) an Vncle of his was so Honorable a person, and so excellent an Oratour and Poet; that he was sent as a principall Ambassa∣dour, from the king of Fez, to the king of Tombuto.

And whether this our Author were borne at Granada in Spaine, (as it is most likely) or in some part of Africa; certaine it is, that in naturall sharpenes and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of Wit, he most liuely resembled those great and classicall authours, Pomponius Mela, Iustinus Historicus, Columella, Seneca, Quintilian, Orosius, Prudentius, Martial, Iuuenal, Auicen, &c. reputed all for Spa∣nish writers; as likewise Terentius After, Tertullian, Saint Augustine, Victor, Optatus, &c. knowen to be writers of Africa. But amongst great varietie which are to be found in the processe of this not able discourse, I will heere lay before your view one onely patterne of his surpassing wit. In his second booke therefore, if you peruse the description of Mount Tenueues, you shall there finde the learned and sweete Arabian verses of Iohn Leo, not being then fully sixteene yeeres of age, so highly esteemed by the Prince of the same moun∣taine, that in recompence thereof, after bountifull entertainment, he dismissed him with gifts of great value.

Neither wanted he the best Education that all Barbarie could affoord. For being euen from his tender yeeres trained vp at the Vniuersitie of Fez, in Gram∣mar, Poetrie, Rhetorick, Philosophie, Historie, Cabala, Astronomie, and other ingenuous sciences, and hauing so great acquaintance and conuersation in the kings court: how could he choose but prooue in his kinde a most accomplished and absolute man? So as I may iustly say (if the comparison be tolerable) that as Moses was learned in all the wisedome of the Egyptians; so likewise was Leo, in that of the Arabians and Mores.

And that he was not meanely, but extraordinarily learned; let me keepe silence, that the admirable fruits of his rare Learning, and this Geographicall Historie among the rest may beare record. Besides which, he wrote an Arabian

Grammar, highly commended by a great Linguist of Italie, who had the sight and examination thereof; as likewise a booke of the liues of the Arabian Phi∣losophers; and a discourse of the religion of Mahumet; with diuers excellent Poems, and other monuments of his industrie, which are not come to light.

Now as concerning his Emploiments, were they not such as might well be∣seeme a man of good woorth? For (to omit how many courts and campes of prin∣ces he had frequented) did not he, as himselfe in his third booke witnesseth, per∣sonally serue king Mahumet of Fez in his wars against Arzilla? And was he not at another time, as appeereth out of his second Booke, in seruice and honora∣ble place vnder the same king of Fez, and sent ambassadour by him to the king of Maroco? Yea, how often in regard of his singular knowledge and iudgement in the lawes of those countries, was he appointed, and sometimes constrained at diuers strange cities and townes through which he trauelled, to become a iudge and arbiter in matters of greatest moment?

Moreouer as touching his exceeding great Trauels, had he not at the first beene a More and a Mahumetan in religion, and most skilfull in the languages and customes of the Arabians and Africans, and for the most part trauel∣led in Carouans, or vnder the authoritie, safe conduct, and commendation of great princes: I maruell much how euer he should haue escaped so manie thou∣sands of imminent dangers. And (all the former notwithstanding) I maruel much more how euer he escaped them. For how many desolate cold mountaines, and huge drie, and barren deserts passed he? How often was he in hazard to haue beene captiued, or to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 had his throte cut by the prouling Arabians, and wilde Mores? And how hardly manie times escaped he the Lyons greedie mouth, and the deuouring iawes of the Crocodile? But if you will needes haue a briefe iournall of his trauels: you may see in the end of his eight booke, what he writeth for himselfe. Wherefore (saith he) if it shall please God to vouchsafe me longer life, I purpose to describe all the regions of Asia which I haue tra∣uelled: to wit, Arabia Deserta, Arabia Petrea, Arabia Felix, the Asian part of Egypt, Armenia, and some part of Tartaria; all which countries I sawe and passed through in the time of my youth. Likewise I will describe my last voiages from Constantinople to Egypt, and from thence vnto Italy, &c. Besides all which places he had also beene at Tauris in Persia: and of his owne countrey, and other African regions adioining and remote, he was so diligent a traueller; that there was no kingdome, prouince, signorie, or citie; nor scarcelie any towne, village mountaine, valley, riuer, or forrest, &c. which he left vnui∣sited. And so much the more credite and commendation descrueth this woorthy Historie of his; in that it is (except the antiquities, and certaine other incidents) nothing else but a large Itinerarium or Iournal of his African voiages: neither describeth he almost any one particular place, where himselfe had not sometime beene an eie-witnes.

But, not to forget His conuersion to Christianitie, amidst all these his busie and dangerous trauels, it pleased the diuine prouidence, for the discouery and ma∣nifestation of Gods woonderfull works, and of his dreadfull and iust iudgements

performed in Africa (which before the time of Iohn Leo, were either vtterly concealed, or vnperfectly and fabulously reported both by ancient and late wri∣ters) to deliuer this author of ours, and this present Geographicall Historie, into the hands of certaine Italian Pirates, about the isle of Gerbi, situate in the gulfe of Capes, betweene the cities of Tunis and Tripolis in Barbarie. Being thus taken, the Pirates presented him and his Booke vnto Pope Leo the tenth: who esteeming of him as of a most rich and inualuable prize, greatly reioiced at his arriuall, and gaue him most kinde entertainement and liberall maintenance, till such time as he had woone him to be baptized in the name of Christ, and to be called Iohn Leo, after the Popes owne name. And so during his abode in Italy, learning the Italian toong, he translated this booke thereinto, being before writ∣ten in Arabick. Thus much of Iohn Leo.

Now let vs acquaint you with the Historie it selfe. First therefore from so woorthy an author, how could an historie proceed but of speciall woorth and conse∣quence? For proofe whereof, I appeale vnto the translations thereof into Latine, Italian, Spanish, French, English, and (if I be not deceiued) into some other languages; which argue a generall 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of the same. I appeale also to the grand and most iudiciall Cosmographer Master Iohn Baptista Ramusius, sometime Secretarie to the state of Venice, who in the Preface to his first vo∣lume of voiages, so highly commendeth it to learned Fracastoro, and placeth it euery word in the very forefront of his discourses, as the principal & most praise∣woorthy of thē all. And were renoumed Ortelius aliue, I would vnder correction report me to him; whether his map of Barbarie and Biledulgerid, as also in his last Additament that of the kingdomes of Maroco and Fez, were not particu∣larly and from point to point framed out of this present relation, which he also in two places at the least preferreth farre before all other histories written of Afri∣ca. But to leaue the testimonies of others, and to come neerer to the matter it selfe; like as our prime and peerelesse English Antiquarie master William Camden in his learned Britannia, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 exactly described England, Scot∣land, Ireland, and the isles adiacent (the which by Leander for 〈◊〉〈◊〉, by Da∣mianus a Goez briefly for Spaine, by Belforest for France, by Munster for vpper Germanie, by Guiccardini for the Netherlandes, and by others for other countries hath beene performed) so likewise this our author Iohn Leo in the historie ensuing hath so largely, particularly, and methodically deciphered the countries of Barbarie, Numidia, Libya, The land of Negros, and the hither part of Egypt, as (I take it) neuer any writer either before or since his time hath done. For if you shall throughly consider him, what kingdome, prouince, citie, towne, village, mountaine, vallie, riuer; yea, what temple, college, hospi∣tall, bath-stoue, Inne; or what other memorable matter doth he omit? So doth he most iudicially describe the temperature of the climate, and the nature of the soile, as also the dispositions, manners, rites, customes, and most ancient pedi∣grees of the inhabitants, togither with the alterations of religion and estate, the conquests and ouerthrowes of the Romaines, Goths, and Arabians, and other things (by the way) right woorthie the obseruation. So that the

Africans may iustly say to him, and the English to master Camden, as the prince of Roman oratours did vnto Marcus Varro the learnedst of his nati∣on. Nos in patria nostra peregrinantes errantesque tanquam hospites, tui libri quasi domum deduxerunt, vt possemus aliquando, qui & vbi essemus, agnoscere. Tuaetatem patriae, tu descriptiones temporum, tu sacrorum iura, tu domesticam, tu bellicam disciplinam, tu sedem regionum & loco∣rum, &c. Which may thus be rudely 〈◊〉〈◊〉. Wandring vp and downe like Pilgrimes in our owne natiue soile, thy bookes haue as it were led vs the right way home; that we might at length acknowledge both who and where we are. Thou hast reuealed the antiquitie of our nation, the order of times, the rites of our religion, our manner of gouernment both in peace and warre, yea thou hast described the situations of countries and places, &c.

Now as concerning the additions before and after this Geographicall His∣torie; hauing had some spare-howers since it came first vnder the presse; I thought good (both for the Readers satisfaction, and that Iohn Leo might not appeere too solitarie vpon the stage) to bestowe a part of them in collecting and digesting the same. The chiefe scope of this my enterprize is, to make a briefe and cursorie description of all those maine lands and isles of Africa, which mine author in his nine bookes hath omitted. For he in very deed leaueth vntouched all those parts of the African continent which lie to the south of the fifteene kingdomes of Negros, and to the east of Nilus. For the manifestation whereof, I haue (as truely as I could coniecture) in the mappe adioined to this booke, cau∣sed a list or border of small prickes to be engrauen; which running westward from the mouth of Nilus to The streights of Gibraltar, and from thence south∣ward to the coast of Guinie, and then eastward to the banks of Nilus, and so northward to the place where it began; doth with aduantage include all places treated of by Leo, and excludeth the residue which by way of Preface we haue described before the beginning of his African historie. Likewise at the latter end I haue put downe certaine relations of the great Princes of Africa, and of the Christian, Iewish, Mahumetan, and Gentilish religions there 〈◊〉〈◊〉. The Princes of greatest account either inhabiting or at least possessing large ter∣ritories there, are first The grand Neguz or Christian Emperour of Abassia or the higher Ethiopia, commonly called Presbyter Iohn or (as Zagazabo his owne ambassadour would haue him) Pretious Iohn; but bicause 〈◊〉〈◊〉 all the Ethiopick relation of Francis Aluarez, being the best that euer was written of those parts, he is continually named Prete Ianni, in imitation of him I also most commonly call him by that name. And so likewise though Zagazabo (for the more magnificent reputation of his prince) will haue his dominions called Ethiopia; yet with the consent of some approoued authors, and also to distin∣guish the country of this emperour from many other regions situate both in the higher Ethiopia, and in the lower; I haue set it downe in my mappe, and in my discourses do most vsually speake thereof vnder the name of Abassia. The other great Princes intreated of in the said relations, are The K. of Spaine, The Tur∣kish Emperour, The Xarifo otherwise called The Miramonin, or the king of

Maroco Sus and Fez, and the emperour of Monomotapa.

My methode in the discourse before Leo is, after a generall preface of Africa, to begin at the Red sea, where Leo endeth; and thence (as well in the descripti∣on of the maine lands, as of the isles by him vntouched) to proceed on southerly to the cape of Buena esperança; from which cape we returne toward the north, describing all along the westerne countries and isles of Africa, till we haue brought our whole descriptions to an end vpon the most southwesterly parts 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Barbarie, where our author Iohn Leo beginneth his.

Et quoniam (as one saith) turpe non est, per quos profeceris, agnoscere: my principall authors out of whom I haue gathered this store, are, of the ancienter note, Ptolemey, Strabo, Plinie, Diodorus Siculus, &c. and amongst later writers, I haue helped my selfe out of sundrie discourses in the first Italian vo∣lume of Baptista Ramusio, as likewise out of Iohn Barros, Castanneda, Or∣telius, Osorius de reb. gest. Eman. Matthew Dresserus, Quadus, Isolario del mundo, Iohn Huighen van Linschoten, & out of the Hollanders late voiages to the east Indies, and to San Tomé: but I am much more beholding to the hi∣story of Philippo Pigafetta, to the Ethiopick relations of Francis Aluarez, & of Damianus a Goez, and beyond all comparison (both for matter and method) most of all, to the learned Astronomer and Geographer Antonius Maginus of Padua, and to the vniuersall relations written in Italian by G. B. B.

And heere, before I surcease, I must admonish the Reader of certaine faults escaped in some copies: as namely in the description of the isles in the Barbarian bay, Açotatado, for Açotado; in a marginall note ouer against the description of Tombuto in the seuenth booke of Iohn Leo, Money for Gold; in the relation of the Christianitie of Egypt, Hypostasis twise togither, in stead of Hypostases; and in the discourse of the Christianitie of Congo, Paulo Aquitino, for Panso Aquitimo. Other literall faults (if there be any) will not be hard for the Reader himselfe to amend.

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Notes

• Read pag. 58. of places vnde∣scribed by Iohn Leo.
• Tull. Acad, quaest, lib.
• The varietie of this emperours names read in a marginall note Pag. 12. of places vndescribed by Iohn Leo.
• Or Xeriso, or Serifo.