Illustrated Treatise on the Maritime Kingdoms, Volume 34

The Small Western Ocean: The Nations of North Libya In this period, "Libya" was often used interchangeably with the entire continent of Africa, following classical Greek terminology.

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The Record of Foreign Lands original: Zhi Fang Wai Ji, a 1623 geographical work by the Jesuit Giulio Aleni states: Barbary original: 阮入多 (Ruanruduo), a phonetic rendering of "Barbaria" or the Barbary Coast, the region near the Mediterranean, consists of the Kingdom of Morocco also known as Moluoguo and the Kingdom of Fez also known as the Kingdom of Tunis.

Morocco is divided into seven provinces. It produces animal hides and sheepskins of exquisite and rare beauty. Honey is extremely abundant there; the people of the nation use honey as a primary food staple. In their customs, they place the highest importance on headwear. Unless one is a nobleman or an elder, one is not permitted to wear a hat cap/turban; the text uses "guan" (冠) upon the head; others merely use a strip of cloth to cover the top of the head.

Fez is divided into seven provinces. The size of its capital city is the greatest in all of Libya Africa. Its palaces and halls are exceedingly magnificent, orderly, and tall. There is one palace with a circumference of three li approximately 1.5 kilometers which features thirty gates; at night, nine hundred lamps are lit. The people of this nation also possess a general understanding of reason and righteousness.

To the west of Barbary lies Africa here referring specifically to the Roman province of Africa Proconsularis, modern-day Tunisia/eastern Algeria. The land is exceptionally fertile. A single grain of wheat planted there has been known to yield three hundred and forty-one ears; Westerners thus refer to it as the "Granary of the World."

To the south of Morocco is a nation named Numidia referring here to the indigenous tribes of the interior. The people are of a fierce and wicked nature, and they cannot be reached by instruction or reform. There are...