Echoes of Portuguese Navigation in the Kitab-i Bahriye by Piri Reis

Authors

  • Rui Manuel Loureiro CHAM, FCSH – Universidade Nova de Lisboa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1344/105.000002044

Keywords:

Piri Reis, Kitab-i Bahriye, cartography, Iberian discoveries, travel literature, intertextuality

Abstract

The world map drawn by Piri Reis in 1513, of which only the Atlantic fragment kept in Istanbul is known, is justly famous. Its surprising modernity is fully explained by the use of Iberian sources, resulting from nearly a century of exploration of both sides of the Atlantic by Portuguese and Spanish navigators, along with other collaborators. The ‘Book of maritime affairs’, prepared in the 1520s by the Turkish cartographer, gathering precious geographic and cartographic information about the Mediterranean and many other regions, is equally important, although rather less well known. In the foreword to his Kitab-i Bahriye, Piri Reis appears to be especially well informed about Portuguese explorations along the African coast and in the Asian seas, after the voyages of Bartolomeu Dias and of Vasco da Gama. Is it possible to identify the textual and cartographic sources used by Piri Reis in the preparation of both his cartographic works?

Author Biography

Rui Manuel Loureiro, CHAM, FCSH – Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Abriu 2

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How to Cite

Loureiro, R. M. (2013). Echoes of Portuguese Navigation in the Kitab-i Bahriye by Piri Reis. Abriu: Estudos De Textualidade Do Brasil, Galicia E Portugal, (2), 11–37. https://doi.org/10.1344/105.000002044

Issue

No. 2 (2013): Diálogos renacentistas entre Oriente y Occidente

Section

MONOGRAPH

License

The Author retains ownership of the copyright of the article, unless the contrary is stated, and all rights not expressly granted in this agreement, including the non-exclusive right to reproduce, distribute, perform, and display the article in print or electronic form, and grants to Abriu: estudos de textualidade do Brasil, Galicia e Portugal the exclusive rights to first publication of the Article. The work will be available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works license, by which the article must be credited to the Author and the Journal must be credited as first place of publication.