Piri Reis is a famous Turkish navigator, a shipmaster, a geographer and cartographer as well
as a genius observer and researcher. In the 16th century, at a time when the Ottoman Empire
was at the peak of its military and political power, he started his career as a navigator at an
early age with his uncle Kemal Reis, a famous commander of the Ottoman navy, into whose
service Piri Reis himself would also be taken . He spent most of his life in seas, especially in the Mediterranean. Carefully observing the places he visited and combining his observations with his experience and skills in cartography , Piri Reis produced his First World Map of 1513 , depicting certain parts of West Africa, Central and Eastern America, and his Second World Map of 1528, representing the eastern coasts of North America, both of which are the most accurate maps of his time and masterpieces of cartography.
Apart from the world maps, another important work by Piri Reis is his Kitab-ı Bahriye, which
he created drawing upon his career-long observations as well as the reference works he
collected . Produced based on scientific principles and for the use of military and
civil users, Kitab-ı Bahriye is not only an atlas containing information on the geographical,
economic and social aspects of almost all coasts of the Mediterranean, but also a literary work
incorporating poems intended to describe the geographical themes as well as textual
information pertaining to each particular mapped region. Completing his work in the year
1526, Piri Reis presented it to Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and
earned his praise. But unfortunately, due to political rumours, Piri Reis, the author of all these
splendid works, was executed upon the order of Suleiman the Magnificent, whose favour he had previously enjoyed.
Yılmaz İ.(2012)The Kitab-ı Bahriye “Book of Navigation” of Piri Reis,- Surveying History.
