Piri Reis

Piri Reis
Statue of Piri Reis in Karaman, Turkey
Born	Muhiddin Piri c. 1470 Ottoman Empire
Died	1553 (aged 82–83) Cairo, Egypt Eyalet, Ottoman Empire
Cause of death	Execution by beheading
Notable work	1513 world map Kitab-ı Bahriye
Relatives	Kemal Reis (uncle)

Piri Reis (Turkish: Pîrî Reiscode: tr is deprecated ; born Muhiddin Piri; c. 1470–1553) was an Ottoman Turkish map maker, admiral, sailor, and pirate. He is best known for his 1513 world map and his book of maps, the Kitab-ı Bahriye (Book of the Sea). His maps draw from classical maps, personal seafaring knowledge, and recent European discoveries. The 1513 world map drew international attention. Scholars found it hundreds of years later during repairs on the Topkapı Palace. The palace in Istanbul was being turned into a museum. The map includes details from a now-lost map by Christopher Columbus.

He was born around 1470 in Gelibolu (Gallipoli). Piri Reis sailed from an early age with his uncle. His uncle was the pirate Kemal Reis. They fought in the western Mediterranean. The Ottoman Sultan brought them into the Ottoman Navy. Piri Reis earned the rank of reis (captain) and fought in the Ottoman–Venetian wars. After his uncle died around 1511, Piri Reis returned to Gelibolu. There he began his maps. He created the 1513 world map. He likely made charts and notes for the Kitab-ı Bahriye. Piri Reis served in the 1517 Ottoman capture of Egypt. He gave his world map to Sultan Selim I. Piri Reis completed two versions of the Kitab-ı Bahriye. Piri Reis dedicated both books to Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. He made the second version when asked by Grand Vizier Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha. Piri Reis finished the book by 1526. The second version had more details. His final work was a part of a 1528 world map.

Piri Reis became the grand admiral of the Ottoman Fleet in the Indian Ocean in 1546. He took back Aden from the Portuguese two years later. His ships fought in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. They stopped a rebellion in Aden (Yemen). He tried to take Hormuz Island in the 1550s, but he failed. Hormuz is an island at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. The Portuguese controlled the island, and they fought off Piri Reis. He had to retreat into the Persian Gulf. For this, the empire killed Piri Reis in Cairo in 1553.

During his life, Piri Reis' maps were not praised or discussed much. Many copies of the Kitab-ı Bahriye were made after his death. When scholars found his first world map in 1929, people became more interested in his maps. It made his work a point of national pride for Turkey. Some writers claim the map shows Antarctica. Antarctica is the continent around the South Pole. It was not known during Piri Reis' life. Scientists say that the map and Antarctica's coast below the ice are very different. Historians say the map shows known and mythical places. The false claims have increased interest in Piri Reis.

Maps

• 

  1513 world map

• 

  Translation of the 1513 world map

• 

  Kitab-ı Bahriye showing Corsica

• 

  1528 world map

Piri Reis Media

• 

  Venice as depicted in the Kitab-ı Bahriye

• 

  Rhodes (largest island outlined in red) south of Anatolia (outlined in dark blue)

• 

  Aden as illustrated in the 16th-century Civitates Orbis Terrarum

• 

  Piri Reis' expedition against Hormuz (1552)

• 

  Comparison of Piri Reis' Caribbean (left) to Martin Behaim's Asia (right)

• 

  Bust of Piri Reis in the Istanbul Naval Museum

• 

  Bust of Piri Reis in Gelibolu

References

• Adıvar, Abdülhak Adnan. La Science Chez les Turcs Ottomans (in fr) (1939). Paris: G.P. Maisonneuve et Larose. OCLC 11676376.
• Ágoston, Gábor. The Last Muslim Conquest: The Ottoman Empire and Its Wars in Europe (in en) (2023). Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-20539-7.
• Akçura, Yusuf. Piri Reis Haritasi (1935). Istanbul: Türk Tarih Kurumu (Turkish Historical Society). OCLC 42754605.
• Anatolia News Agency (23 January 2013). "Topkapı Palace Museum Features Piri Reis Collection" (in en). Hürriyet Daily News.

      . https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/topkapi-palace-museum-features-piri-reis-collection-39707. 

• Angelov, Dimiter. Imperial Geographies in Byzantine and Ottoman Space (2013). Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies.
• Ayyubi, N. Akmal. Contribution of Piri Reis to Cartography. Proceedings of the Indian History Congress 50 (1989)Indian History Congress. p. 737–740.
• "Başbakan Gençlerden Beklentisini Açıkladı" (in tr). Hürriyet Daily News. 2 October 2010.

      . https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/basbakan-genclerden-beklentisini-acikladi-15923172. 

• Brotton, Jerry. Trading Territories: Mapping the Early Modern World (1998). Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-3499-0.
• Casale, Giancarlo. The Ottoman Age of Exploration (in en) (28 January 2010). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-537782-8. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195377828.003.0003.
• Casale, Giancarlo. Did Alexander the Great Discover America? Debating Space and Time in Renaissance Istanbul. Renaissance Quarterly 72 (3) (2019). p. 863–909. doi:10.1017/rqx.2019.252.
• Davies, Gordon L. Herries. Reviewed Work(s): Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings. Evidence of Advanced Civilization in the Ice Age by Charles H. Hapgood. Imago Mundi 37 (1985). p. 108–109.
• Dutch, Steven. The Piri Reis Map. Science, Pseudoscience, and Irrationalism (2010).
• The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic world (2009). New York: Oxford university press. ISBN 978-0-19-530513-5.
• Experts Investigate Fish Deaths, Pollution Crisis in Izmir Bay. Türkiye Today (31 August 2024).
• Fagan, Garrett G.. Archaeological Fantasies: How Pseudoarchaeology Misrepresents the Past and Misleads the Public (in en) (2006). Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 978-041530-592-1.
• Floor, Willem M.. The Persian Gulf: A Political and Economic History of Five Port Cities, 1500-1730 (in en) (2006). Washington, DC: Mage Publishers. ISBN 978-1-93382-312-6.
• FSTC Research Team. Piri Reis: A Genius 16th-Century Ottoman Cartographer and Navigator. Muslim Heritage (2010-02-13). Retrieved 2024-08-12.
• Gaspar, Joaquim Alves. The Representation of the West Indies in Early Iberian Cartography: A Cartometric Approach. Terrae Incognitae 47 (1) (2015). p. 10–32. doi:10.1179/0082288415Z.00000000041.
• Gerber, Albrecht. Deissmann the Philologist (2010). Berlin: De Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11022-432-0.
• Gitman, Esther. A Legacy of the Jews of Yugoslavia with a Focus on Sarajevo (in en) (20 May 2024). Cambridge and New York: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 978-1-0364-0500-7.
• Goodrich, Thomas D.. The Maps of the Kitab-i Bahriye of Piri Reis. Piri Reis Sempozyumu (2004)Istanbul Military Museum.
• Grima, Joseph F.. The Order of St John's Arrival in Malta in 1530 (in en-gb). Times of Malta (24 October 2021).
• Heinrich, Paul. Fingerprints of the Gods Re: Piri Reis Map (2001). Geologist and Archaeological Geologist at Louisiana State University.
• Hepworth, Paul. Production and Date of the Walters' 'Kitab-i Bahriye'. The Journal of the Walters Art Museum 63 (2005). p. 73–80.
• Hess, Andrew C.. The Evolution of the Ottoman Seaborne Empire in the Age of the Oceanic Discoveries, 1453-1525. The American Historical Review 75 (7) (1970). p. 1892–1919. doi:10.2307/1848022.
• Hillgarth, Jocelyn N.. The Spanish Kingdoms: 1250–1516. Volume II: 1410–1516, Castilian Hegemony (1978). Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-822531-7.
• İnan, Afet. The Oldest Map of America, Drawn by Piri Reis (1954). Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basimevi. OCLC 2435662.
• İnan, Afet. Piri Reis'in Hayatı ve Eserleri (in tr) (2020). Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınları. ISBN 978-975-16-0443-9.
• Isom-Verhaaren, Christine. The Sultan's Fleet: Seafarers of the Ottoman Empire (2022). London, New York, Oxford, New Delhi and Sydney: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-0-7556-4173-4.
• Kahle, Paul E.. A Lost Map of Columbus. Geographical Review 23 (4) (October 1933). p. 621–638. doi:10.2307/209247.
• Other Routes: 1500 Years of African and Asian Travel Writing (2006). Oxford: Signal. p. 127–131. ISBN 978-1-90495-512-2. OCLC 61177562.
• Lepore, Fortunato. Looking at the Kitab-i Bahriye of Piri Reis. E-Perimetron 8 (2) (2013).
• Malekandathil, Pius. Maritime India-Trade, Religion and Polity in the Indian Ocean (in en) (2010). Delhi: Primus Books. ISBN 978-9-38060-701-6.
• Massetti, Marco. The Zoomorphic Representations of the Pîrî Reis Map (1513). Anthropozoologica 51 (1) (2016). p. 41–54. doi:10.5252/az2016n1a3.
• McIntosh, Gregory C.. The Piri Reis Map of 1513 (2000a). Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press. ISBN 978-0-82034-359-4.
• McIntosh, Gregory C.. The Tale of Two Admirals: Columbus and the Piri Reis Map of 1513. Mercator's World 5 (3) (2000b)Aster. p. 18–23.
• McIntosh, Gregory C.. Seapower, Technology, and Trade: Studies in Turkish Maritime History (2014). Istanbul: Piri Reis University. ISBN 978-9-94426-451-8.
• McIntosh, Gregory C.. The Piri Reis Map of 1528: A Comparative Study with Other Maps of the Time. Mediterranea. Ricerche Storiche. (34) (August 2015). Palermo: Mediterranea.
• Mikaberidze, Alexander. Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia 2 (2011). Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-59884-336-1.
• Muhaj, Ardian (December 2014). "Ottoman Corsairs in the Atlantic During the 16th Century: Murat Rais, the Albanian and the First Ottoman Expedition to the Canary Islands" in International Symposium of Piri Reis and Turkish Maritime History. : 261–269, 402–405Ankara: Türk Tarịhi Kurumu. 
• Nebenzahl, Kenneth. Atlas of Columbus and the Great Discoveries (1990). Chicago: Rand McNally. ISBN 978-0-52883-407-3.
• NHHC. Mapiro (SS-376). Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (21 April 2016)Naval History and Heritage Command.
• Önalp, Ertuğrul. The Military Expedition of Piri Reis to Hormuz and the Considerations of Turkish and Portuguese Historians About his Execution (in tr). Ankara Üniversitesi Dil ve Tarih-Coğrafya Fakültesi Tarih Bölümü Tarih Araştırmaları Dergisi 29 (47) (2010). doi:10.1501/Tarar_0000000453.
• Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. Oxford Reference Online (2007). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-172750-4.
• Özbaran, Salih. Ottoman Expansion Toward the Indian Ocean in the 16th Century (2009). Şişli, İstanbul: İstanbul Bilgi University Press. ISBN 978-605-399-062-8.
• Ozberk, Tayfun. Turkish Navy Commissions First Reis-class AIP Submarine TCG Piri Reis. Naval News (25 August 2024).
• Pedani, Maria Pia. Piri Reis in Venetian Documents. Mediterranea. Ricerche Storiche. (34) (August 2015). Palermo: Mediterranea.
• Pinto, Karen. Searchin' His Eyes, Lookin' for Traces: Piri Reis' World Map of 1513 & Its Islamic Iconographic Connections (A Reading Through Bagdat 334 and Proust). Journal of Ottoman Studies 39 (1) (2012). p. 63–94.
• Piri Reis. Kitab-ı Bahriye 3 (1988). Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu.
• Pryor, John H.. Geography, Technology, and War Studies in the Maritime History of the Mediterranean, 649–1571 (1988). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-34424-1.
• Robinson, Francis. The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Islamic World (1996). London: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-52143-510-9.
• Sarıcaoğlu, Fikret. Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire (in en) (2009). New York: Infobase Publishing. ISBN 978-1-43811-025-7.
• Şengör, Ali Mehmet Celâl. Who Discovered the 1513 Map of Piri Reis?. Piri Reis Sempozyumu (2004)Istanbul Military Museum.
• Shaw, Stanford J.. History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey (in en) 1 (29 October 1976). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-52129-163-7.
• Shepherd, William Robert. Historical Atlas (1911). New York: Henry Holt Company. OCLC 55177220.
• Soucek, Svat. Tunisia in the Kitab-i Bahriye of Piri Reis. Archivum Ottomanicum 5 (1976). p. 129–296.
• Soucek, Svat. Cartography in the Traditional Islamic and South Asian Societies 2 (1) (1992). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 263–272. ISBN 978-0-226-31635-2.
• Soucek, Svat. Piri Reis and Ottoman Discovery of the Great Discoveries. Studia Islamica (79) (1994). p. 121–142. doi:10.2307/1595839.
• Soucek, Svat. Piri Reis and Turkish Mapmaking After Columbus: The Khalili Portolan Atlas. Studies in the Khalili Collection 2 (1996). London: The Nour Foundation. ISBN 978-0-19-727501-6.
• Soucek, Svat. Navals Aspects of the Ottoman Conquests of Rhodes, Cyprus and Crete. Studia Islamica (98/99) (2004). p. 219–261.
• Soucek, Svat. Studies in Ottoman Naval History and Maritime Geography (in en) (2011). Georgia: Georgia Press. ISBN 978-1-61719-150-3.
• Soucek, Svat. His Uniqueness Among Cartographers and Hydrographers of the Renaissance. Cartes & Géomatique (216) (2013). p. 135–144.
• Stanley, Bruce. Cities of the Middle East and North Africa: A Historical Encyclopedia (2007)Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1-57607-919-5.
• Stunkel, Kenneth R.. Reviewed Work(s): Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings: Evidence of Advanced Civilization in the Ice Age by Charles Hapgood. Geographical Review 57 (3) (1967). p. 440–442. doi:10.2307/212645.
• Tarihi, Güncellenme (24 March 2022). "Son Dakika: Barbaroslar Piri Reis Kimdir? Barbaroslar Akdeniz'in Kılıcı Piri Reis'i Emir Benderlioğlu Canlandırıyor! Emir Benderlioğlu kaç Yaşında? - Son Dakika Magazin Haberleri" (in tr). CNN Türk. https://www.cnnturk.com/magazin/son-dakika-barbaroslar-piri-reis-kimdir-barbaroslar-akdenizin-kilici-piri-reisi-emir-benderlioglu-canlandiriyor-emir-benderlioglu-kac-yasinda-1738665. 
• Tekeli, Sevim. The Map of America by Piri Reis. Erdem 1 (3) (1985). p. 673–683. doi:10.32704/erdem.1985.3.673.
• Tureng Turkish English Dictionary. Turkey: Tureng Çeviri Ltd. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
• Urguplu, Ahmet (1 July 2015). "Piri Reis and His World Map". The Fountain.

      . https://fountainmagazine.com/all-issues/2015/issue-106-july-august-2015/piri-reis-and-his-world-map-july-august-2015?__cf_chl_tk=mfSW3n1AyTd6xkvYfb4T_o24WQH8zL0mrJXnVs41Re8-1721448176-0.0.1.1-4479. 

• Turkish Foundations in Rhodes and Kos (in en) (2 October 2019). Konya: Eğitim Yayinevi. ISBN 978-6-05778-613-5.