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The Piri Reis Map of 1513 is
one of the most beautiful, interesting, important, and mysterious maps to
have survived from the Age of Discovery. Yet for all its importance, it is
one of the least understood maps of this momentous and remarkable period
in the history of cartography. The map is the surviving left-hand portion
of a larger world map.
The top edge displays evidence of another section of parchment above,
which would have depicted Great Britain, Iceland, Greenland, and
Newfoundland. The extant fragment measures about 89 centimeters high by 64
centimeters wide. The central section and righthand (or eastern) portion
of the world map are missing.
Piri tells us in his map inscriptions that among the maps he used to
construct his world map there were Portuguese maps. Several contemporary
Portuguese maps have been used to reconstruct a suggestion of what the
whole Piri Reis map looked like. The complete world map probably measured
about 140 centimeters high by 165 centimeters wide. It is fortunate that
the surviving portion is of the newly discovered regions in the Western
Hemisphere, not only because it contains a copy of a map by Christopher
Columbus, but also because it documents some of the eras evolving
geographical conceptions of America. The map follows in the tradition of
portolan charts, marinerss sea charts of the Black, Aegean, and
Mediterranean Seas and the Atlantic coasts of Europe.
In response to European geographical expansion, portolan style maps were
expanded beyond the traditional European regions to include depictions of
the entire world. The graphical symbols, colors, and illustrations of
Piris map are typical of portolan style charts. Like other portolan
charts of the time, the Piri Reis map exhibits a network of rhumb lines
radiating from a circular pattern of wind roses or compass roses, five of
which can be seen on the extant fragment. The central rose was in
northeast Africa, a common motif.
The map includes 117 place names. Most are typical of portolan charts
and easily identifiable, particularly those found in Europe, Africa, South
America, and the Atlantic Islands (both real and imaginary).
The map also includes thirty descriptive inscriptions. All but one is in
the Ottoman Turkish language. The exception is in Arabic and identifies
the mapmaker as Piri Reis and dates the map to the spring of 1513. Other
inscriptions give information about the people, animals, mineral wealth,
and curiosities of the New World. One of the inscriptions identifies the
sources used by Piri Reis: eight maps of Ptolemy, four contemporary
Portuguese maps, an Arabic map of Southern Asia, and a map by Columbus for
parts of the New World.
The depiction of the New World, based upon a Columbus Map, and the
depiction of land at the south of the Atlantic Ocean, have elicited the
most interest. Piris map appears to include in his depiction of a
southern land the commonly held belief in a southern continent, accepted
by geographers since the time of the ancient Greeks. A southern continent
had to exist in order to balance the globe with the other landmasses in
the Northern Hemisphere Piris inscriptions on his southern land indicate
that his compilation included reports from Portuguese voyaging along the
east coast of South America.
The Piri Reis map is typical of most other world maps of the Sixteenth
Century, which depict a southern continent with inscriptions describing
South America. The depiction of South America is rather typical for its
time as seen in the delineation of the east coast, the northeast coast,
and the mouth of the Amazon.
The place-names along the east coast of South America are typical of all
maps since the Portuguese first explored the coast after its discovery in
1500. Now, we do not have any difficulty seeing the outline of Europe,
Africa, and the coast of South America on this surviving portion of the
map.
But, what is this jumbled bunch of lands and islands up here in the
northwest corner? Lets see if we can sort this out and figure out what
was being represented here. The islands of Puerto Rico and the Lesser
Antilles are fairly easily discernible on the Piri Reis Map when we
compare the delineation with other contemporary maps. The name inscribed
on Puerto Rico Sanjuwano bastido is San Juan Bautista, the name
Columbus bestowed upon the island when he discovered it during his Second
Voyage. Stretching eastward from the northeast corner of Puerto Rico on
the Piri Reis Map is a string of small, unnamed islands that are
identified from their shape, size, location, configuration, and
orientation as the present-day Virgin Islands.
There is also, however, a cluster of twelve islands located immediately to
the northeast of the unnamed Virgin Islands, which, according to the
inscription next to them, are called Undiziverjine, which is Italian for "Eleven
Virgins, derived, no doubt, from Columbuss name for these islands, which
was Eleven Thousand Virgins. The duplication of the Virgin Islands,
once in their correct form and location, but unnamed, and again
immediately to their northeast as a conventionally drawn cluster of
islands, provides an important clue as to how Piri Reis extracted and
reconciled the information from the two dozen source maps he used. We
will look at this compilation process a little later.
The Lesser Antilles on the Piri Reis map are easily identified by the
shapes, orientations, and place names of the islands. Some of these island
place names preserve native Carib island names recorded in early Sixteenth
Century documents.
According to Piri Reis, he used a map by Columbus for part of the
depiction of the western regions or the New World. An analysis of the
depiction of Hispaniola, the Bahamas, and Cuba indicates that this is
probably correct. The depiction of Hispaniola on the map does not at first
glance appear to resemble the true shape of Hispaniola. It can be
identified, however, by the place names inscribed upon it: Espanya,
Navidad, and the little island of Alto Vela; by the delineation of its
coast; and by an understanding of what Columbus believed about Hispaniola.
One inscription, is Elcezire Izle despanya. This is a combination of the
Arabic word for island and the Spanish isla de españia, that is, "Spanish
Island". When Columbus discovered this island on the First Voyage he gave
it the name La Isla Española, meaning "the Spanish Island," subsequently
Latinized to Hispaniola. The other name inscribed on the island is
Paksin Vidad. This name is undoubtedly Navidad, the name of the first
settlement founded in the New World by Columbus on the north coast of
Hispaniola and which occurs on only a few other maps.
The shape and orientation of Hispaniola on the Piri Reis map is strikingly
similar to the depiction of the island of Cipango on maps of the fifteenth
and Sixteenth centuries. Cipango was Marco Polos name for the islands of
Japan, and it was one of the goals sought by Columbus on his first voyage.
Columbus and his contemporaries believed that Cipango was rectangular,
with its main axis oriented north to south. Many maps contemporary with
Columbus and Piri Reis show Cipango with this shape and orientation.
Columbus states that when he discovered the island of Hispaniola during
his first voyage, he thought he had found Cipango.
The belief regarding the identity of Hispaniola as Cipango persisted into
the Sixteenth Century. A note on the Johann Ruysch map of 1508, for
instance, states: "....that what the Spaniards call Spagnola is really
Cipango ..." Oronce Fine, on his printed cordiform world map of 1534,
labeled Hispaniola as Zipango, i.e., Japan, as did other cartographers who
followed him. By turning the island of Hispaniola on the Piri Reis Map 90
degrees counterclockwise so that its orientation matches the island in
reality rather than Columbuss conception of Cipango, we can see the
coastlines visited and mapped by Columbus. This is most apparent in the
matching coastlines from Bahía de Samaná to Cabo Falso. The distinctive
large bight on the south coast that includes Bahía de Ocoa is well defined.
Notice that the west coast of Hispaniola and the Gulf of Gonave are
missing from the Piri Reis depiction of Hispaniola. This may support Piri
Reis's assertion of the Columbian origin of the source map for this region
because these western shores of Hispaniola were the only ones never seen
by Columbus.
The various inlets, bays, capes, and promontories of the northern, eastern,
and southern coastlines of Hispaniola, as seen by Columbus on his first
and second voyages, are preserved in the depiction of Hispaniola on the
Piri Reis Map.
More than merely a depiction of Cipango, this island on the Piri Reis Map
is actually HispaniolaasCipango copied from Columbus's map of his
voyages and discoveries in the West Indies. The delineation of Hispaniola
on the Piri Reis Map is Columbus's delineation. Surrounding Hispaniola on
the Piri Reis Map are several named islands, some of which can be
identified with Columbus.
Birbinish, the name of an island off the south coast of Hispaniola on the
Piri Reis Map, is obviously bir binish, Turkish for "long cloak," a
translation apparently made by Piri Reis of the island name Alto Velo,
Spanish for "high cloak," "high veil, or "high sail. Alto Velo, the saillike
rock island off the southernmost point of Hispaniola, was discovered and
named by Columbus during his Second Voyage.
Barbura was one of the names used by the Spanish for the islands and
shoals of the Turks Bank immediately north of Hispaniola and this placename
is recorded on the Piri Reis Map.
The Island of Cuba is depicted as part of the mainland on the Piri Reis
Map, in accordance with the opinion of Columbus, who believed that Cuba
was a great cape of Asia. During the First Voyage he identified Cuba as
the mainland of China, even sending an emissary into the interior with a
letter from Ferdinand and Isabela to the Grand Khan.
Columbuss contemporaries Paolo Toscanelli, Henricus Martellus,
Francesco Rosselli, and Martin Behaim depicted the same view of the
Asian mainland on their maps, made between 1474 and 1492.
The Piri Reis Map follows the ideas of Columbus in depicting Cuba as a
great cape of the mainland with a coastline that trends north and south.
During his Second and Fourth Voyages Columbus continued to identify Cuba
as the mainland of Asia. Piris place-names on the mainland and on the
islands offshore all result from Columbuss second voyage and clearly
identify the land as Cuba. Istonasia appears to be the Spanish "Esta en
Asia" that is, "This is in Asia" appropriate words to be found on the map
so near to Cuba, which Columbus believed to be the most eastern part of
mainland Asia. Porta Ghande is Puerto Grande, Columbus's name for modern
Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, discovered on his Second Voyage. The Piri Reis Map
is the only map that has this Columbian place-name.
The name Kaw Punta Orofay, i.e., Cabo Punta Ornofay, or, "Cape Point
Ornofay," is the region on the south coast of Cuba called Ornofay by the
natives Columbus found there, also on his Second Voyage. Or, perhaps, Kaw
is Cuba. This name, Ornofay, as with Puerta Grande, is a place-name linked
directly to Columbus, and the Piri Reis Map is the only map to have it.
One of the islands on the map just off the coast of Cuba is named Santa
Marya. This must be the island on the south coast of Cuba named, Santa
Maria by Columbus during the Second Voyage. The prominent cape pointing
towards Hispaniola undoubtedly is present-day Cabo Maisi at the eastern
end of Cuba.
The region to the north of the cape is that coast on the north side of
Cuba explored by Columbus on the First Voyage, and, the region to the
south being the south coast of Cuba he explored on the Second Voyage.
Columbus described the north coast of Cuba as mainland extending
northwards. He described the south coast of Cuba as extending first
westward, from a great cape, and then southward. The Piri Reis Map follows
these descriptions, illustrating Cuba as a mainland with a coastline that
tends north and south.
The Piri Reis Map, in the region of Central America or Panama, also has
the name Antilia. Piri tells us in his inscriptions that Antilia is the
name of the new lands found by Columbus to the west. This is the origin of
the Antilles name for the islands in the West Indies. Heres the Central
American place-names. On the section of this mainland to the south, which
connects with South America, is a picture of a castle or fortress with an
inscription beside it. This inscription is the Arabic Qal'at feridat,
which means "Castle Precious Pearl." This is a translation by Piri Reis of
Castello Berrucca, derived from the place-name Veragua and indicates
that the source map used by Piri Reis for this section of the map is from
after 1504 when Columbus sailed along Panama and picked up the native name
Veragua.
The double Virgin Islands (indicating two different source maps were used
by Piri Reis in this region) and Qal'at feridat (copied by Piri Reis from
a map made after 1504, maybe of Italianorigin) form the two ends of a
boundary. This boundary is between the regions to the south (Puerto Rico,
the Lesser Antilles, Central America, and South America), copied by Piri
Reis from one or more maps of between 1504 and 1513 that probably included
Portuguese maps (as Piri Reis indicates in one of his inscriptions) and
possibly Italian copies of Portuguese maps and the regions to the north (the
Bahamas, Hispaniola, and Cuba), copied by Piri Reis from a map likely to
be the one he claimed was made by Columbus.
Veragua would not be on any map, Columbian or otherwise, anytime before
1504. And it is unlikely that the double Virgin Islands would be on a map
made by Columbus. The indication is that the region north of the VeraguaVirgin
Island boundary line is from the Columbian source map, possibly made in
1495 or 1496 by Columbus or under his direction. It appears that in his
map compilation process in the Caribbean region Piri Reis grafted the
Columbian source map of about 1495 or 1496 onto a Portuguese or Italian
base map.
The Columbian conception of the transatlantic lands and the ToscanelliMartellusBehaim
conception of the East Asian coast are combined with the geography of the
West Indies and the Caribbean to produce the configurations of the Piri
Reis Map configurations that are copied from Columbus's map.
The Piri Reis Map of 1513 and most other maps of the first two decades of
the Sixteenth Century depict the results of the attempts at combining the
reported geography of the new lands with the differing conceptions of East
Asia envisioned by Ptolemy, Marco Polo, Toscanelli, Martellus, Columbus,
and the Portuguese. Many of the maps unique features support statements
by Piri Reis that he copied a map by Columbus. I suggest the Columbian
source map used by Piri Reis for his depiction of the Caribbean might have
looked something like this. What appears to be a confused jumble in the
northwest section of the map conforms to Columbuss geographical ideas,
particularly those of Hispaniola shaped like Cipango and Cuba shaped as
the Asian mainland. If one reads the writings of Columbus and constructs a
map of the lands and islands he discovered based upon the ideas of
Columbus that is, that these lands and islands were the Asian mainland and
offshore islands and Cipango, as envisioned by Columbus and his
contemporaries then one constructs a map of this general configuration.
The most significant aspect of the map is its connection to Christopher
Columbus. The Piri Reis map displays the earliest, most primitive, and
most rudimentary cartography of the West Indies, particularly of
Hispaniola and Cuba, a primitiveness that indicates that the earliest of
all cartographic records of the discoveries in the New World a map made
by Columbus, or made under his supervision, around 1495 or 1496 is
preserved in the Piri Reis map.
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