Contemporary Views. Leo Africanus.

Click here to access an extract from The History and Description of Africa (1600) translated by John Pory.

1. Print the extract
2. Read the extract from the subheading "What Vices The Foresaid Africans Are Subject Unto" to the end
3. Underline/highlight any racial stereotypes that you can find (these can be new stereotypes, or ones we have already covered)
4.  How do you think this extract might have influenced Shakespeare when writing the play Othello? Consider the parallels between the extract, and the character of Othello himself.
5. Bring the annotated copy of the extract, with your responses to the above questions, to the lesson.