Piri Reis

Key Accomplishments

• Created the famous 1513 world map showing coastlines of the Americas
• Authored the Kitab-i Bahriye, a comprehensive guide to Mediterranean navigation
• Compiled over twenty source maps into his cartographic works
• Served as admiral of the Ottoman Indian Ocean fleet

The Full Story

Born in Gallipoli, Piri Reis learned seamanship under his uncle Kemal Reis, one of the foremost Ottoman corsairs and naval commanders. From a young age he accompanied his uncle on voyages across the Mediterranean, gaining firsthand knowledge of coastlines, harbors, and navigation that would later inform his cartographic work.

In 1513, while stationed in Gallipoli, Piri Reis produced his famous world map, drawn on gazelle skin. The surviving fragment shows the Atlantic coasts of Europe and Africa and, remarkably, the eastern coastline of South America. Piri Reis noted that he consulted approximately twenty source maps, including one used by Christopher Columbus. The map's accuracy, particularly regarding coastlines that were barely known to Europeans at the time, has fascinated scholars for over a century.

His greatest literary work, the Kitab-i Bahriye (Book of Navigation), completed in 1521 and revised in 1525, was a comprehensive guide to the Mediterranean. It contained detailed maps of ports and cities, sailing directions, and information on currents, harbors, and anchorages. The work included over two hundred detailed charts and maps.

Piri Reis rose to the rank of admiral of the Ottoman fleet in the Indian Ocean. However, his later naval career ended in tragedy: after a failed campaign against the Portuguese in the Persian Gulf, he was executed in Cairo in 1553. Despite this end, his cartographic legacy endures as one of the great achievements of the Age of Exploration.

Places

Connected Figures

Sources

• [1]Gregory C. McIntosh, The Piri Reis Map of 1513 (University of Georgia Press, 2000)
• [2]Svat Soucek, Piri Reis and Turkish Mapmaking after Columbus (Nour Foundation, 1996)
• [3]Jerry Brotton, A History of the World in Twelve Maps (Allen Lane, 2012)