Cihannüma (The World-Displayer), Müteferrika press, Constantinople 1145/1732, with engraved maps of the hemispheres, Asia (İklim-i Asya), Europe, Africa, America and regional maps
كتاب جهان نما
Katib Çelebi (1609-1657); printed by İbrahim Müteferrika
How we know
compilation Assembled from earlier sources. The author did not observe it directly.
compilation: Katib Çelebi drew on Mercator-Hondius Atlas Minor, Ortelius, Cluverius and Islamic geographers (Abu al-Fida, Hamdallah Mustawfi); Müteferrika added plates and a supplement to 1732; the Asia map is derived from European atlases with Ottoman toponymy
Research notes
- Maps engraved for the 1732 print, not present in Katib Çelebi's manuscripts in this form; the Europe and Asia sheets follow Mercator-Hondius outlines. The text of Asia stops at Anatolia; the eastern chapters (Japan, China, Türkistan) are the fullest. Europeana/DDB record duplicates this item (K7DN2FLBXQEFKA32ISURTF5QFPTQCJDD).
- Labels read on plate 198 (İklim-i Asya): اقليم آسيا, تركستان, دشت قبچاق, تاتارستان (in a two-word label), الچين, ختاى, هند, سمرقند?, with the Yaik and Volga courses. Plate 190 (İklim-i Avrupa) carries ممالك تاتار at its south-east corner and بلغار, روسيا, قريم. Plate 194 is Africa (رسم افريقا), not Asia as first assumed.
Why it matters
The first printed Ottoman atlas of Asia: it labels Türkistan, Desht-i Kipchak and a Tatarıstan region between the Caspian and China on a European-derived outline, showing how the Ottoman learned tradition of 1650-1732 mapped Tartary in Turkish terms.
Places named
Asia, incl. Türkistan, Desht-i Kipchak, Tatarıstan, China (Çin), Khitay, Tibet; Europe with the Tatar realms (Memalik-i Tatar), Bulghar, Kazan; Africa; America
Who copied whom
- this one was drawn from it (probable)Katib Celebi's Cihannüma outlines from the Mercator-Hondius Atlas Minor
- The Mirror of the World W211, 1654–1657accompanying text or map (stated)Katib Celebi's Cihannüma
Keep exploring
The maps drawn just before and just after this one.
