Everything about Piri Reis totally explained
Piri Reis (full name
Hadji Muhiddin Piri Ibn Hadji Mehmed) (about
1465 –
1554 or
1555) was an
Ottoman-Turkish admiral and
cartographer born between
1465 and 1470 in
Gallipoli on the
Aegean coast of
Turkey.
He is primarily known today for his maps and charts collected in his
Kitab-ı Bahriye (
Book of Navigation), a book which contains detailed information on navigation as well as extremely accurate charts describing the important ports and cities of the
Mediterranean Sea. He gained fame as a cartographer when a small part of
his first world map (prepared in
1513) was discovered in
1929 at
Topkapı Palace in
Istanbul. The most surprising aspect was the presence of the
Americas on an Ottoman map, making it the first Turkish map ever drawn of the Americas -- although not the first ever, which was drawn by pilot and cartographer
Juan de la Cosa in 1500 and is conserved in the naval museum (Museo Naval) in
Madrid.
The most striking characteristic of the first world map (1513) of Piri Reis, however, is the level of accuracy in positioning the continents (particularly the relation between
Africa and
South America) which was unparalleled for its time. Even maps drawn decades later didn't have such accurate positioning and proportions; a quality which can be observed in other maps of Piri Reis in his
Kitab-ı Bahriye (
Book of Navigation). Piri Reis' map is centered in the Sahara at the Tropic of Cancer latitude. Some scholars, including
Prof. Charles H. Hapgood, have argued that the Piri Reis map might also be the oldest surviving map of
Antarctica, despite being drawn more than 3 centuries before the
official discovery of that continent.
In
1528 Piri Reis drew a second world map, of which a small fragment showing
Greenland and
North America from
Labrador and
Newfoundland in the north to
Florida,
Cuba and parts of
Central America in the south still survives.
Biography
Piri began to serve in the Ottoman navy when he was young, in
1481, following his uncle
Kemal Reis, a well-known seafarer of the time. He participated in many years of fighting against
Spanish,
Genoese and
Venetian navies, including the
First Battle of Lepanto (Battle of Zonchio) in
1499 and
Second Battle of Lepanto (Battle of Modon) in
1500. When his uncle Kemal Reis died in
1511, Piri returned to
Gallipoli and began to write his book
Kitab-ı Bahriye (
Book of Navigation). In
1513 he produced
his first world map, based on some 20 older maps and charts which he'd collected, including charts personally designed by
Christopher Columbus which his uncle Kemal Reis obtained in
1501 after capturing seven Spanish ships off the coast of
Valencia in
Spain with several of Columbus' crewmen on board.
By
1516 he was again at sea, as a ship's captain in the Ottoman fleet. He took part in the 1516-17 campaign against
Egypt, and in
1517 was able to show his world map to Sultan
Selim I. In
1521 he finished his
Kitab-ı Bahriye. In
1522 he participated in the siege of
Rhodes against the
Knights of St. John which ended with the island's surrender to the Ottomans on 25 December 1522 and the permanent departure of the Knights from Rhodes on 1 January 1523. In
1524 he captained the ship that took the Ottoman
Grand Vizier Makbul Ibrahim Pasha to Egypt. Following the Vizier's advice, he edited his book and was able to present it to Sultan
Suleiman the Magnificent in
1525. Three years later he presented his second world map to Suleiman.
By
1547, Piri had risen to the rank of Reis (admiral) and was in command of the Ottoman fleet in the
Indian Ocean and admiral of the fleet in Egypt, headquartered at
Suez. On 26 February
1548 he recaptured
Aden from the
Portuguese, followed in
1552 by the capture of
Muscat, which Portugal had occupied since 1507, and the important island of
Kish. Turning further east, Piri Reis captured the island of
Hormuz in the
Strait of Hormuz, at the entrance of the
Persian Gulf. When the Portuguese turned their attention to the Persian Gulf, Piri Reis occupied the
Qatar peninsula and the island of
Bahrain to deprive the Portuguese of suitable bases on the
Arabian coast.
He then returned to Egypt, an old man approaching the age of 90. When he refused to support the Ottoman governor of
Basra, Kubad Pasha, in another campaign against the Portuguese in the northern Persian Gulf, Piri Reis was publicly beheaded in 1554 or 1555.
Several warships and submarines of the
Turkish Navy have been named after Piri Reis.
Kitab-ı Bahriye (Book of Navigation): 1521 and 1525
Kitab-ı Bahriye is one of the most famous premodern books of navigation. The book contains detailed information on the major ports, bays, gulfs, capes, peninsulas, islands, straits and ideal shelters of the
Mediterranean Sea, as well as techniques of navigation and navigation-related information on astronomy. The book also contains information about the local people of each country and city, and the curious aspects of their culture. Kitab-ı Bahriye was originally written between 1511 and 1521, but it was revised with additional information and better-crafted charts between 1524 and 1525 in order to be presented as a gift to
Suleiman the Magnificent. Piri Reis drew these charts during his travels around the Mediterranean Sea with his uncle
Kemal Reis. The revised edition of 1525 has a total of 434 pages and contains 290 maps.
Kitab-ı Bahriye has two main sections, with the first section dedicated to information about the types of storms, techniques of using a compass, portolan charts with detailed information on ports and coastlines, methods of finding direction using the stars, characteristics of the major oceans and the lands around them. Special emphasis is given to the discoveries in the
New World by
Christopher Columbus and those of
Vasco da Gama and the other Portuguese seamen on their way to
India and the rest of
Asia.
The second section is entirely comprised of portolan charts and cruise guides. Each topic contains the map of an island or coastline. In the first book (1521), this section has a total of 132 portolan charts, while the second book (1525) has a total of 210 portolan charts. The second section starts with the description of the
Dardanelles Strait and continues with the islands and coastlines of the
Aegean Sea,
Ionian Sea,
Adriatic Sea,
Tyrrhenian Sea,
Ligurian Sea, the
French Riviera, the
Balearic Islands, the coasts of
Spain, the
Strait of Gibraltar, the
Canary Islands, the coasts of
North Africa,
Egypt and the
River Nile, the
Levant and the coastline of
Anatolia. This section also includes descriptions and drawings of the famous monuments and buildings in every city, as well as biographic information about Piri Reis who also explains the reasons why he preferred to collect these charts in a book instead of drawing a single map, which wouldn't be able to contain so much information and detail.
Copies of the Kitab-ı Bahriye are found in many libraries and museums around the world.
Copies of the first edition (1521) are found in the
Topkapı Palace, Nuruosmaniye Library and Süleymaniye Library in
Istanbul, Library of the University of
Bologna, National Library of
Vienna, State Library of
Dresden, National Library of
Paris, British Museum in
London, Bodleian Library in
Oxford and the Walters Art Museum in
Baltimore.
Copies of the second edition (1525) are found in the
Topkapı Palace, Köprülüzade Fazıl Ahmed Paşa Library and Süleymaniye Library in
Istanbul and the National Library of
Paris.
Kitab-ı Bahriye image gallery
Several charts from both editions (1521 and 1525) of the Kitab-ı Bahriye can be seen below:
Image:Entrance_of_the_Dardanelles_by_Piri_Reis.jpg|Entrance of the Dardanelles Strait
Image:Dardanelles and Gulf of Saros by Piri Reis.jpg|Dardanelles Strait and the Gulf of Saros
Image:Lesbos and Ayvalik by Piri Reis.jpg|Lesbos and Ayvalık
Image:Aegean Sea by Piri Reis.jpg|Aegean Sea
Image:Izmir by Piri Reis.jpgIzmir
Image:Chios by Piri Reis.jpgChios
Image:Samos by Piri Reis.jpgSamos
Image:Cape Bozburun near Marmaris and Datça by Piri Reis.jpg|Cape Bozburun between Marmaris and Datça
Image:Marmaris by Piri Reis.jpg|Marmaris
Image:Rhodes by Piri Reis.jpg|Rhodes
Image:Crete by Piri Reis.jpg|Crete
Image:Amorgos by Piri Reis.jpg|Katapola Bay in Amorgos
Image:Athens by Piri Reis.jpg|Athens
Image:Thessaloniki by Piri Reis.jpg|Thessaloniki
Image:Otranto by Piri Reis.jpg|Otranto
Image:Brindisi by Piri Reis.jpg|Brindisi
Image:Ancona by Piri Reis.jpg|Ancona
Image:Venice by Piri Reis.jpg|Venice
Image:Sicily by Piri Reis.jpg|Sicily
Image:Sardinia by Piri Reis.jpg|Sardinia
Image:Corsica by Piri Reis.jpg|Corsica
Image:Genoa by Piri Reis.jpg|Genoa
Image:Marseilles by Piri Reis.jpg|Marseilles and Toulon
Image:Majorca and Minorca by Piri Reis.jpg|Majorca and Minorca
Image:Minorca by Piri Reis.jpg|Minorca
Image:Granada by Piri Reis.jpg|Granada
Image:Strait of Gibraltar by Piri Reis.jpg|Strait of Gibraltar
Image:Algiers and Bejaia by Piri Reis.jpg|Algiers and Bejaia
Image:Tunis by Piri Reis.jpg|Tunis
Image:Gulf and Island of Djerba by Piri Reis.jpg|Djerba
Image:Malta by Piri Reis.jpg|Malta
Image:Tripoli by Piri Reis.jpg|Tripoli
Image:Alexandria by Piri Reis.jpg|Alexandria
Image:River Nile and Bulaq by Piri Reis.jpg|River Nile and Bulaq
Image:Cyprus by Piri Reis.jpg|Cyprus
Image:Alanya by Piri Reis.jpg|Alanya
Image:Antalya by Piri Reis.jpg|Antalya, Manavgat, Side
Image:Antalya and Kemer by Piri Reis.jpg|Antalya and Kemer
Image:Cape Adrasan and the Riviera of Finike by Piri Reis.jpg|Finike
Image:Kekova by Piri Reis.jpg|Kekova
Image:Kas and Kastelorizo by Piri Reis.jpg|Kaş and Kastelorizo
Image:Fethiye by Piri Reis.jpg|Fethiye
Image:Istanbul by Piri Reis.jpg|Istanbul
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