PIRI REIS’ MAP OF THE CASPIAN SEA: A HISTORICAL-GEOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS

Authors

  • Ismail Ibragimovic Hanmurzaev Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of Daghestan Scientific Centre, Russian Academy of Sciences 0000-0003-0645-3978 (unauthenticated)
  • Usup Magomedovic Idrisov “Historical Park ‘Russia is my history’

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32653/CH202228-245

Keywords:

Piri Reis, Bahr-i Khazar, Caspian Sea, fortifications, remains of ancient river beds, historical cartography, Dagestan, Big Nogai, Derbent, Tarki, Endirei, portolan

Abstract

This study provides a detailed analysis of the portolan “Bahr-i Khazar” (Ottoman: Sea of Khazar) created by the Turkish cartographer Piri Reis in 1525. The translation from Ottoman into Russian of the preamble and toponymy on the map, along with a comparative analysis of the map’s geographical features with other cartographic materials and written sources, allows for the determination of the possible range and chronology of the sources used by Piri Reis. The research methodology includes decoding cartographic elements, comparing them with historical data, analyzing archival documents, and comparing them with similar maps from the same period. The scientific novelty of this work lies in the fact that this map has not previously been the subject of research in the Russian-speaking academic community. Studying Piri Reis’ map introduces new aspects to the history of the Caspian region, enhancing existing knowledge about the territory and water bodies at the beginning of the 16th century. The authors conclude that Piri Reis relied on Western (Venetian and Genoese) sources available to him, as well as oral reports from travelers, when compiling his portolan of the Caspian Sea. The map contains valuable information about the hydrography and fortifications of the time. The remarkable accuracy of the coastline on the portolan suggests that the Turkish maritime department had a significant interest in the navigation possibilities within the Caspian Sea, which is corroborated by other documentary evidence. The detailed depiction of the coastline around the Caspian Sea enhances the research’s value for understanding the geographical, political, and sociocultural realities of the era. Consequently, the results of this study enrich the cartographic heritage of the 16th century and expand our knowledge of the historical and geographical realities of the region, forming new perspectives for research in the fields of cartography, history, and cultural geography.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

  • Ismail Ibragimovic Hanmurzaev, Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of Daghestan Scientific Centre, Russian Academy of Sciences
    Researcher the Oriental Studies Department
  • Usup Magomedovic Idrisov, “Historical Park ‘Russia is my history’
    Cand. Sci. (History), lecturer-guide

References

Piri Reis. A book of navigation. Baku: Ecoprint, 2019. (In Russ)

Özen ME. Piri Reis Ve Müntehab-I Kitab-I Bahriye. Osmanlı bilimi araştırmaları. 2006, 7(2): 119-131. (In Turk)

Nemlioğlu YK. Mare Hircanum, Bahr-I Hazar, Gulzum denghiz, Bahr Gilan and Kaspiskoye more: the Caspian Sea on historical maps. Turkish studies of social sciences. 2018, 13/18: 959-977. (In Turk)

Abdulgaffar Kyrymi. Umdet al-akhbar. Book 5 2: Translation. Series “Yazma Miras. Written heritage. Textual Heritage”. Vol. 5 / Transl. from Ottoman Yu.N. Karimova, I.M. Mirgaleeva; general and scientific edition, preface and comments by I.M. Mirgaleeva. Kazan: Marjani Institute of History, 2018. (In Russ)

Trepavlov VV. History of the Nogai Horde. Ed. M.A. Usmanov. 2nd ed., rev. and extended. Kazan: Kazan Real Estate Publ., 2016. (In Russ)

Filippov NM. On changes in the level of the Caspian Sea. Proceedings of the Russian Geographical Society. Vol. 20. No. 2: Saint-Petersburg Tip. Imp. Academy of Sciences, 1890.

Soimonov F. Atlas of the Caspian Sea. Saint-Petersburg: Printing house of the Maritime Ministry, Main Admiralty, 1731.

Volkov IV. The fictitious name Laeti for the Aktobe settlement. Vestnik Prikaspiya: archeology, history, ethnology. 2016; 6: 21–38. (In Russ)

Bartold VV. General works on the history of Central Asia. Works on the history of the Caucasus and Eastern Europe. Vol. II. Part 1. Moscow: Vostochnaya Literatura Publ., 1963. (In Russ)

Olearius Adam. Description of the journey to Muscovy and through Muscovy to Persia and back. Saint-Petersburg: A.S. Suvorin, 1906. (In Russ)

Idrisov YuM., Khanmurzaev II. “Manuscript portolan of the Caspian Sea of 1519” by Vesconte Maggiolo as a source on the historical geography of the Caspian region. Zolotoordynskoe Obozrenie. 2021;9(4): 768-790. (In Russ)

Syvorotkin VL. “Caspian Tie” and its researchers. Prostranstvo i Vremya. 2011, 1(3): 144-148. (In Russ)

Soimonov FP. Description of the Caspian Sea and the Russian conquests carried out on it, as part of the history of the sovereign Emperor Peter the Great. Through the works of the secret adviser, governor of Siberia and the Order of St. Alexander Knight, Fyodor Ivanovich Soimonov, selected from the journal of his excellency, during his service as a naval officer; And with the addition, where necessary, of the Academy of Sciences conference secretary, history professor and historiographer G.F. Miller. Saint-Petersburg: Imp. Academy of Sciences, 1763. (In Russ)

English travelers in the Moscow state in the 16th century. Ed. N.L. Rubinstein; transl. Yu.V. Gautier. Moscow: Sotsekgiz, 1937. (In Russ)

Goldschmidt EP., Crone GR. The Lesina portolan chart of the Caspian Sea (with a commentary by Gerald R. Crone). Geographical Journal. 1944, 103: 272-278.

Dmitriev NK. Grammar of the Kumyk language. Moscow, Leningrad: USSR Academy of Sciences, 1940. (In Russ)

Chelebi E. Travel Book. Vol. 2. Moscow: Nauka, 1979. (In Russ)

Alikberov A.K. The era of classical Islam in the Caucasus. Moscow: Vostochnaya Literatura Publ., 2003. (In Russ)

Butskovsky AM. Military topographical and statistical description of the Caucasian province. History, geography, ethnography of Dagestan. Archival materials. Eds. M. O. Kosven, Kh. M. Khashaev. Moscow: Vostochnaya Literatura Publ., 1958. (In Russ)

Kumyk-Russian dictionary. Ed. Z.Z. Bammatov. Moscow: Sovetskaya Encyclopedia, 1969. (In Russ)

Early voyages and travels to Russia and Persia by Anthony Jenkinson and other Englishmen, with some account of the first intercourse of the English with Russia and Central Asia by way of the Caspian Sea. Vol. I. New York, B. Franklin, 1886.

Radlov VV. Experience of a dictionary of Turkic dialects. Vol. 3, 1905. (In Russ)

Russian-Dagestan relations of the 17th – first quarter of the 18th centuries. Documents and materials. Makhachkala: Dagknigoizdat, 1958. (In Russ)

Tatishchev VN. Selected works. Leningrad: Nauka, 1979. (In Russ)

Zaitsev IV. Astrakhan Khanate. 2nd ed. corr. and extended. Moscow: Vostochnaya Literatura Publ., 2006. (In Russ)

Opała-Owczarek M., Niedźwiedź T. Last 1100 yr of precipitation variability in western central Asia as revealed by tree-ring data from the Pamir-Alay. Quaternary Research. 2019, 91(1): 81–95.

Ryabogina NE., Yuzhanina ED., Idrisov IA., Borisov AV. Peat palaeorecords from the arid Caspian lowland in Russia: environmental and anthropogenic effects during the second half of the Holocene. Quaternary Science Reviews. 2022, 280: 107417. DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107417.

McIntos G. “The Piri Reis Map of 1513 is Important Because ...,” Uluslararası Piri Reis ve Türk Denizcilik Tarihi Sempozyumu: 500 yılın ardından Piri Reis ve eserleri bildiriler, 26-29 Eylül 2013, ed. Osman Gümüşçü, 6 vols. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu, 2014: 133-144. (In Turk)

Almeida B. Chart of the week. Available at: https://www.medea-chart.org/single-post/chart-of-the-week-the-kunstmann-iii-chart-1501-1502-anonymous-portuguese (date of access: 29.6.2023)

Metcalf A.C. Amerigo Vespucci and the Four Finger (Kunstmann II) World Map. e-Perimetron. 2012, 7(1): 36-44.

Soucek S. Islamic charting in the Mediterranean. Islamic Charting in the Mediterranean. Cartography in the Traditional Islamic and South Asian Societies. Vol. 2. Book 1. The University of Chicago Press, 1992: 263-292.

Maglaque E. The Literary Culture of the Renaissance Venetian Empire Available at: https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/10023/18024/Maglaque_2017_IT_LiteraryCultureVenice_AAM.pdf?sequence= 1 (date of access: 16.7.2023).

Van Duzer C. Nautical charts, texts, and transmission: The case of Conte di Ottomano Freducci and Fra Mauro. Electronic British Library Journal. 2017; 6: 1-65.

Bagrov L. Materials for a historical review of maps of the Caspian Sea. Saint-Petersburg: Maritime Ministry Publ., 1912.

Svet I. After Marco Polo. Travels of Western foreigners to the countries of the three Indies. Moscow: Nauka, 1968. (In Russ)

Khvalkov IA. The colonies of Genoa in the Black Sea region: evolution and transformation. Moscow, 2015.

Kurat A. The Turkish expedition to Astrakhan’ In 1569 and the problem of the Don Volga canal. The Slavonic and East European Review. 1961, 40(94): 7-23.

Gusein FA. Ottoman-Safavid War of 1578-1590. Baku: Nurlan, 2005. (In Russ)

Downloads

Published

2024-08-12

Issue

Section

History

How to Cite

1.
Hanmurzaev II, Idrisov UM. PIRI REIS’ MAP OF THE CASPIAN SEA: A HISTORICAL-GEOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS. ИАЭК. 2024;20(2):228-245. doi:10.32653/CH202228-245