audiobook Piri Reis and Turkish Mapmaking after Columbus (Studies in the Khalili Collection Volume II) by Svat Soucek in History

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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful. SynopsisBy A CustomerThe Ottoman naval commander and cartographer Piri Reis (1475-1554) played a leading role in transmitting the discoveries made on Columbus' first voyage to the New World to the inhabitants of the Muslim lands around the Mediterranean. His work is known from fragments of two world maps; and from his Kitab-i-Bahriye (Book of Seamanship); which he illustrated with hundreds of charts derived principally from medieval portolans. The Khalili Portolan Atlas is a fine; hand-drawn example of the cartographic tradition established by Piri Reis. It also contains a series of city views; including unprecedented depictions of Galata; on the northern shore of the Golden Horn; and of Candia in Crete; which reflect the vitality of Ottoman topographical painting in the late 17th centure. Professor Soucek shows how Piri Reis' works represented a fusion of the Islamic world view with European map-making traditions; modified by his own experience as a navigator; and by the recent discoveries of Columbus. The third part of his study is devoted to a detailed analysis of the contents of the Khalili Portolan Atlas.