| Kitab-ı Bahriye Turkish, Ottoman (1500-1928);: كتاب بحرية | |
| Location: | Topkapı Palace, Istanbul |
| Date: | 1521, 1526 |
| Place Of Origin: | Gallipoli, Ottoman Empire |
| Language(S): | Ottoman Turkish |
| Author(S): | Piri Reis |
| Dedicated To: | Suleiman the Magnificent |
| Material: | Paper |
The Kitab-ı Bahriye (ota|كتاب بحرية|lit=''Book of the Sea'') is a navigational guide written by Piri Reis, an Ottoman cartographer, corsair, and captain. He compiled charts and notes from his career at sea into the most detailed portolan atlas in existence. The Kitab-ı Bahriye combines information from a range of sources and Piri Reis' personal experience. The coast of North Africa relies little on outside sources. The book is also one of the few primary sources of information on Piri Reis.
There are two versions of the book. The first version was composed between 1511 and 1521, and presented as a gift to the sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. The second, expanded version was produced as a commission for Ottoman Grand Vizier Pargalı İbrahim Pasha, and completed in 1526.
Both versions begin with a preface and were dedicated to the sultan Suleiman. The main part of both versions is a nautical atlas to the Mediterranean Sea. Separate chapters cover different locations with corresponding portolan charts. Piri Reis says he composed an atlas with separate maps and charts because the details in any single map are limited by the space available. There are 130 chapters in the first version and 210 in the second. The chapters start at the Dardanelles and move counter-clockwise around the Mediterranean. The maps have compass roses indicating North for each page. Scale is indicated only in the textual descriptions, not with scale bars. Standard portolan symbols indicate hazards, like dots for shallow water and crosses for rocks. Written when Ottoman sailors relied on oar-driven galleys and galiots, the Kitab-ı Bahriye reflects their needs and capabilities. It gives information on coastal waters, safe harbors, hazards, and sources of fresh water.
The second version also includes a longer introduction written in verse. It offers information on storms, winds, navigating with a compass, navigating by the stars, reading portolan charts, and the oceans. It discusses recent Portuguese and Spanish voyages including the voyages of Christopher Columbus to the Americas and Vasco da Gama's discovery of a sea route to India. The description of the Americas also includes fantastical hearsay. The book offers the first detailed Ottoman description of the Indian Ocean, with special attention given to Hormuz.
The book achieved fame only after the death of its author. The known surviving manuscripts are all copies created after 1550. At least some portion of the book has been translated into English, modern Turkish, Greek, French, German, and Italian.
From an early age, Piri Reis sailed with his uncle Kemal Reis, first as corsairs in the western Mediterranean, and later in the Ottoman Navy. After his uncle died in 1511, Piri Reis returned to his hometown, Gallipoli. He created his first world map and likely began compiling the notes and charts that would form the basis of the Kitab-ı Bahriye. Piri Reis rejoined the Ottoman Navy for the Ottoman–Mamluk War (1516–1517) and presented the world map to Selim I in 1517. In the following decade, Piri Reis completed two versions of the Kitab-ı Bahriye and a second world map.
When Suleiman the Magnificent began his reign in 1520, Ottoman craftsmen offered exemplars of their work as gifts. The Kitab-ı Bahriyes preface reads, "The reason for compiling this book is that a number of master craftsmen have now brought forward offerings from their various trades to the auspicious threshold and felicitous gate of His Majesty the World-protecting Emperor, so as to gain high status in society and attain name and renown through the matchless favor of that well-favored sovereign." There's no evidence that the first version received a positive or enthusiastic response from the sultan.
The second version was drafted after Piri Reis took the Ottoman Grand Vizier Pargalı İbrahim Pasha to Egypt. Ibrahim rode aboard the navy's flagship, commanded by Piri Reis, when putting down Hain Ahmed Pasha's rebellion in Egypt. During the trip, they took shelter at Rhodes to wait out a storm. They discussed the original Kitab-ı Bahriye and other charts on the ship. Ibrahim commissioned Piri Reis to create an expanded version of the Kitab-ı Bahriye. He did so and presented it to the Sultan by 1526.
There is no evidence that the Kitab-ı Bahriye circulated outside of the royal palace prior to 1550. From 1560 to 1600, many copies were created and spread. At least 15 surviving manuscripts are from this period. The total number of copies may have reached into the hundreds. There was a greater demand for Turkish geographical texts in the late sixteenth century than during Piri Reis' own life.
The Kitab-ı Bahriye is a portolan atlas that offered the most detailed navigational guide to the Mediterranean Sea for its time. Like portolan maps, the Kitab-ı Bahriye uses compass roses for navigation, rather than lines of longitude and latitude. Arrows on each chart indicate North. There are no visual scale bars; distances are explained in the prose. The maps use standard symbols like dots for shallow water and crosses for rocks. Compared to inscriptions on contemporary maps, the book is highly personal and anecdotal.
The details in a portolan chart were limited by the space available on the map. Piri Reis says this is why he used separate maps and prose descriptions. The books combine information from a range of sources and his personal experience. The areas that most reflect Piri Reis' direct experiences are the coasts of North Africa. Tunisia is likely drawn from personal observations. Djerba, in particular, includes greater detail than the highly-regarded maps Giacomo Gastaldi composed in sixteenth-century Italy.
The isolario genre was a major influence on Piri Reis. Isolarios were books with written descriptions and maps. Typically written for amusement, they contained minimal guidance on navigation and focused on history and topography. An isolario—like Benedetto Bordone's The Book of Islands compiled in Venice around the same time as the Kitab-ı Bahriye—was divided into chapters with maps of the locations described. Historian Thomas Day Goodrich has argued that the Kitab-ı Bahriye introduced the technique of referring to the maps from within the book's text. Prose portions of the Kitab-ı Bahriye refer the reader to specific maps for details or a better understanding of the geography.
The Kitab-ı Bahriyes charts begin at the Dardanelles strait and move counter-clockwise around the Mediterranean. Like other Ottoman atlases, the Kitab-ı Bahriye focuses more on warfare and raiding than trade routes. Piri Reis sailed, raided, and fought as a ghazi and corsair, so he wrote from this perspective.
The Kitab-ı Bahriye is a practical navigation guide, and the sixteenth-century Ottoman fleet relied mainly on galleys and galiots. These ships could be propelled by sails or oars. The Kitab-ı Bahriye reflects their capabilities and is written for a captain making a series of short coastal voyages. The length of galleys combined with their low freeboard made them quick but susceptible to storms and high winds. The Kitab-ı Bahriye gives information on coastal waters, hazards, and safe harbors. The most commonly depicted watercraft is the galley, but the Kitab-ı Bahriye also frequently mentions sandals, a type of small rowing boat. A sandal could be carried or pulled by a galley and rowed to shore for scouting or gathering fresh water. Galleys needed to frequently stop for supplies, and the Kitab-ı Bahriye notes where fresh water can be found. For example, in the section covering the Galite Islands, the Kitab-ı Bahriye notes the dangers posed by southern winds, the availability of wild goats, and the quality of the fresh water which Piri Reis compares in flavor to rose water.
Ottoman naval warfare during the period was often amphibious, involving the transport of troops from land under Ottoman control. The Kitab-ı Bahriye gives details about land-based fortifications, including their current condition. A 2020 analysis of two copies found each depicted over 100 fortified towns, over 800 fortresses, about 390 towers, just over 100 ruins, 148 ports, and about 200 fresh-water springs. The detailed section on Venice explains how the city—built on piles in a lagoon—lacked drinking water and had to ship it in from rivers on the mainland. When discussing the Strait of Messina between Sicily and Europe, Piri Reis explains how the harbor at Messina was protected in medieval times by a submerged chain that could be raised from Forte del Santissimo Salvatore and pulled taut across the harbor by night or during times of conflict:
The Kitab-ı Bahriye is one of the few sources of biographical information on Piri Reis. The book includes first-hand information from Piri Reis' own sailing and his early experiences with his uncle in the Western Mediterranean. It contains autobiographic information up to 1526, the year the final version was presented to the sultan.
Piri Reis produced two versions of the book, an initial 1521 version with 130 chapters and a second 1526 version with 210 chapters. The original version is less artistic but more practical; it saw use by later sailors. The second version includes more detailed maps decorated with Ottoman miniatures.
The first version begins with a standard Ottoman introduction offering praise to Allah and Muhammad along with an explanation of the book's purpose. The 1526 version includes a longer introduction and an added epilogue, both written in verse. The longer preface adds details about recent Portuguese and Spanish voyages around Africa and to the Americas, as well as the first detailed Ottoman description of the Indian Ocean. It gives special attention to Hormuz, a strategically valuable port at the entrance to the Persian Gulf. The description of the Americas includes fantastical hearsay; it describes natives with massive flat faces and the width of an entire hand between their eyes. It also includes Piri Reis' own experiences taking exotic American items from European sailors. The epilogue covers how the second version resulted from discussions with Ibrahim Pasha.
Many copies of both versions have been preserved, but not the originals. Over 40 manuscripts—produced from the late 1500s to the 1700s—survive today, 26 in Istanbul alone. The number of maps varies, and a few have no maps at all. Three copies have no text and only maps. The number of charts in surviving manuscripts varies as some contain additional charts added by copyists. Some later copies have updated maps and depict additional places like the Black Sea which is not covered in the text. The surviving manuscripts contain a total of more than 5,700 maps. According to historian Thomas Day Goodrich, there are more hand-drawn manuscript maps of Piri Reis' work than any other cartographer.
Most extant manuscripts are luxury items, but a few show signs of use at sea. One copy at Kiel University has water stains and marginal notes written by an anonymous mariner. The copies of the more practical 1521 version identify the copyists and the place of production. The copies of the more artistic 1526 version leave out the identity of the copyists. Most copies of the second version were likely created by the miniaturists working in Istanbul during the 1500s and 1600s.
At least some portion of the Kitab-ı Bahriye has been translated into German, French, English, Italian, and Greek. Scholarly analysis of the book began with Denis Dominique Cardonne's 1765 French translation. A facsimile of the second version was published in 1935 by the Turkish Historical Society with a complete historical introduction. It was based on the Ayasofya manuscript at the Süleymaniye Library in Istanbul. Eduard Sachau published a study of the Sicily section in 1910. Orientalist Paul E. Kahle began to translate and study a copy of the first version in the 1920s. Uriel Heyd found in a 1956 study that across the many copies "place-names, in particular, were distorted by copyists". More recent scholarship by Dimitris Loupis, Jean-Louis Bacqué-Grammont, and Svat Soucek has worked towards standardizing the placenames.
The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism released a four-volume color facsimile of the book in 1988. It includes a photographic reproduction of the manuscript, a transliteration from the original Arabic script into the Turkish alphabet, and translations into modern Turkish and English.
Copies of the Kitab-ı Bahriye are found in libraries in Istanbul and in some of the major libraries in Europe, besides one copy known to be held privately in the USA (Walters Art Museum).
| Berlin, from Tübingen | Berlin State Library, from University of Tübingen | Ms. Or. Fol. 4133 | 1645 | |||
| Bologna | Bologna University Library | Ms. Marsili 3612 | 105 | |||
| Bologna | Bologna University Library | Ms. 3613 | 125 | 1569 | ||
| Dresden | Saxon State and University Library Dresden | Ms. Eb 389 | 119 | 1554 | ||
| Istanbul | Istanbul Naval Museum | No. 987 | 88 | Mehmed Seyyid | ||
| Istanbul | Istanbul Naval Museum | No. 990 | 134 | |||
| Istanbul | Köprülü Library, Fazıl Ahmed Paşa | Ms. 172 | 123 | 1657 | ||
| Istanbul | Coğrafya 1 | 129 | ||||
| Istanbul | Nuruosmaniye Library | Ms. 2990 | 126 | 1654 | Ahmed ibn Mustafa | |
| Istanbul | Nuruosmaniye Library | Ms. 2997 | 124 | 1628 | Mustafa ibn Muhammad Cündi | |
| Istanbul | Süleymaniye Library | Ms. Aya Sofya 2605 | 133 | 1721 | Muh. b. Kalgan and Muh. Sadık | |
| Istanbul | Süleymaniye Library | Âşır Efendi 227 | 92 | |||
| Istanbul | Süleymaniye Library | Ms. Aya Sofya 3161 | 125 | |||
| Istanbul | Süleymaniye Library | Hamidiye 945 | 42 | 1554–1555 | Ahmed ibn 'All ibn Mehmed | |
| Istanbul | Süleymaniye Library | Hüsrev Paşa 272 | 127 | 1570 | ||
| Istanbul | Süleymaniye Library | Yeni Cami 790 | 128 | 1551 | Muhyiddin | |
| Istanbul | Topkapı Palace | Ms. Baghdad 337 | 134 | 1574 | ||
| Istanbul | Istanbul University Library | Türkçe 123/2 | 119 | |||
| Kiel | Kiel University Library | Ms. Cod. Or. 34 | 51 | 1553–1600 | ||
| London | British Museum | Ms. Oriental 4131 | 137 | 1600–1700 | ||
| Oxford | Bodleian Library | Ms. D'Orville 543 | 1587 | |||
| Paris | Bibliothèque nationale | Suppl. Turc 220 | 122 | 1553–1700 | ||
| Prague | National Library of the Czech Republic | XVIII A 308 | ||||
| Vienna | Austrian National Library | Ms. Cod. H.O. | 130 | |||
| Originally in the private library of Sir Thomas Phillipps | Ms. 3974 | 123 | 1718 |
| Baltimore | Walters Art Museum | W.658 | 239 | 1600–1700 | |
| Berlin | Berlin State Library | Diez A. Fol. 57 | 50 | 1600–1700 | |
| Istanbul | Belediye, Muallim Cevdet 30 | 226 | 1682 | ||
| Istanbul | Istanbul Naval Museum | No. 988 | 239 | ||
| Istanbul | Istanbul Naval Museum | No. 989 | 226 | ||
| Istanbul | Köprülü Library | Ms. 171 | 117 | 1555 | |
| Istanbul | Süleymaniye Library | Ayasofya 2612 | 216 | 1574 | |
| Istanbul | Topkapı Palace | Ms. H. 642 | 215 | 1553–1600 | |
| Istanbul | Topkapı Palace | R. 1633 | 221 | 1600–1700 | |
| Istanbul | Istanbul University Library | Türkçe 6605 | 228 | ||
| Kuwait | Dar al Athar al Islamiyyah | Ms. LNS. 75 | 131 | 1689 | |
| Paris | Bibliothèque nationale | Suppl. Turc 956 | 219 | 1553–1600 |
| Bologna | University of Bologna Library | Ms. Marsili 3609 | 204 | Only maps, no text. | |
| Istanbul | Topkapı Palace | B. 338 | 189 | Only maps, no text. | |
| London | Khalili Collection of Islamic Art | Ms. 718 | 119 | Only maps, no text. | |
| Istanbul | Süleymaniye Library | Hüsrev Paşa 264 | 0 | Text only. | |
| Istanbul | Kandilli Observatory | 340/2; f. 25b-69a | 0 | Text only. |