lettered by Abraham Ortelius, 1570
Written source · Ottoman Turkish

Katib Celebi's Cihannuma: an Ottoman geography of Asia (printed 1732)

The Ottoman 'Mirror of the World', a geography of Asia that mixed Islamic tradition with European atlases, printed in Istanbul in 1732.

Full title The Mirror of the World: Ottoman geography of Asia (Japan, China, Cathay, Turkestan, Transoxiana, Khorezm, Dasht-i Qipchaq, Iran, Anatolia) with 40 engraved maps and diagrams, printed Istanbul 1145 AH / 1732

كتاب جهان‌نما

Katib Celebi (1609-1657); Ibrahim Muteferrika (editor, printer, with additions)

Read the 4 passagesOpen the original book

Katib Celebi (1609 to 1657), an Ottoman scholar and bureaucrat, wrote the Cihannuma in the 1650s, combining the Islamic geographers with European atlases (Mercator-Hondius, Ortelius) translated for him. Ibrahim Muteferrika, the first Ottoman Muslim printer, published it in 1732 with additions and engraved maps. The corpus copy is a modern facsimile (Boyut) of the 1732 print whose OCR is badly garbled, so quotes were read from page images. It is compiled throughout, and its 'Tatarestan' material is taken from European sources.

How they knew
Compiled from others
Who “Tartar” means here
Tatar is used in two layers: the Islamic genealogy (Tatar and Mongol as twin sons of a Turkish khan) and the European atlas label 'Tatarestan' (Tartary) for all of inner Asia beyond the Imaus. The Nogay and Crimean Tatars appear as real neighbours of the Ottomans.
Why read it
It shows the European 'Tartary' being translated into Ottoman Turkish, alongside a plain statement that 'Turk, Tatar and Mongol' had become interchangeable names.
Watch out
Two authorial layers (1650s and 1732) and heavy dependence on European atlases; it is not independent evidence for inner Asia. The printed page numbers in the facsimile are Arabic numerals at the top of each page.

What it says: 4 passages

CitiesSiberia and the Nogay steppec.1650 to 1730

Siberia, the Nogays and a coin-minting town on the Irtysh

Editorial contextFollowing 'Lorenzo' again, the Cihannuma says the Nogay Tatars are subject to the Crimean khans, that north of them lived the Bulghars, and north of the Bulghars lies the land of Siberia, mostly forest, where some Nogay Tatars live. There is a town there called Hanam, very prosperous and famous for trade, where jewels are sold, and Tatars of Cathay and Muscovites gather to trade. It gives an Ottoman reader a Siberia of towns and markets, not an empty waste.

North of the Bulghar people lies the land of Siberia; most of it is forest, and some of the Nogay Tatars live there. They have a city called Hanam, very prosperous and famous for trade.

Working translation

Original wording

بولغار قومندن شماله سیبریا اولکه‌سی دوشر اکثری اورمانلقدر ونوغای تاتارلرینك بعضی انده ساکن اولورلر وهمه خانام برشهرلری وار غایت معمور وتجارتله مشهوردر

Katib Celebi, Cihannuma (Muteferrika print, Istanbul 1732)
See the original page (p. 374)

About Nogay Tatars, Siberian Tatars ('Kesellu' Tatars), Bulghars

Keep in mind

Compiled from European atlases; the town names are garbled forms of names on Western maps.

Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR of this facsimile is garbled).

Daily lifeTartary (inner Asia)c.1650, from European atlases

'Like wind and water': Katib Celebi on the Tatar character

Editorial contextContinuing from the European source, Katib Celebi describes the Tatars as steel-natured among mankind, restless as wind and water, with the strength of Ahriman and the might of demons. They roam the deserts like the wind; they neither eat bread nor build houses, their horses need neither shoes nor nails, and they cross rivers by swimming. It is the classic European literary picture of the steppe nomad, translated into Ottoman.

Qualities of the Tatars: this people are of steel nature among mankind, and like water and wind their nature is used to motion; they have the strength of Ahriman and the power of demons … they run like the wind; neither do they tire nor do their horses; the horses they ride need neither shoe nor nail.

Working translation

Original wording

واوصاف تاتار بوقوم بنی نوع انسان میانه‌ده پولاد نهادلر وآب وباد کبی طبیعتلری حرکته معتاد اهرمن قوت ودیو زورلو ... ایل کبی یلرلر نه کندولر یورولور نه اتلری درلر بندکلری آته نه نعل حاجت نه میخ

Katib Celebi, Cihannuma (Muteferrika print, Istanbul 1732)
See the original page (p. 376)

About Tatars (generic)

Keep in mind

A stereotype copied from European books, not observation; a few words at the line breaks are uncertain in the print.

Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR of this facsimile is garbled).

The nameTurkestan and the Dasht (Central Asia)legendary origins, told c.1650

Mongol and Tatar: twin sons, and a name that swallowed the rest

Editorial contextKatib Celebi tells the Islamic-Persian genealogy: the children of Turk son of Japheth spread over Turkestan, most of them nomads living in tents. Later Alinja Khan had twin sons, Mongol and Tatar, who divided the kingdom, so two clans arose. Eight Tatar rulers reigned before their line died out, and the Mongol line followed. Then comes a clear statement of the naming problem: 'Mongol' became a generic name for many tribes, so that by extension people say 'Turk', 'Tatar' and 'Mongol' for all of them, although the Mongols were really one kind of Turk.

From one womb he had two sons, one named Mongol and the other Tatar, and he divided his whole kingdom between these two sons … The said word became a generic name for many tribes and peoples, and it is applied by extension even to those who are not of them, so they say Turk and Tatar and Mongol; but in truth the Mongols were one kind of Turk.

Working translation

Original wording

مزبورك بطن واحددن ایکی اوغلی اولدی بری مغول و بری تاتار تسمیه اولنوب جمله مملکتنی بو ایکی اوغلی بیننده تقسیم ایلدی ... نیجه قبایل واقوامه لفظ مزبور اسم جنس اولمشدر انلردن اولمینه دخی مجاز طریقیله اطلاق وتعمیم ایدوب ترك وتاتار مغول دیرلر لکن حقیقتده مغول ترکدن برصنف ایدی

Katib Celebi, Cihannuma (Muteferrika print, Istanbul 1732)
See the original page (p. 369)

About Turks, Mongols and Tatars

Keep in mind

A legendary genealogy from the Persian historical tradition (Rashid al-Din and later histories; Abu'l-Ghazi tells a version after Katib Celebi's time). The observation about names is Katib Celebi's own.

Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR of this facsimile is garbled).

The nameInner Asia beyond the Imaus mountainsc.1650, copied from European atlases

'Tartarestan', says Lorenzo: from the river Tartar

Editorial contextHere Katib Celebi reports what the European geographer he calls 'Lorenzo' wrote: the second part of Asia, beyond the Imaus mountains, is Tatarestan (Tartary). Its people are Mongol Tatars who have spread over most of Asia. Their origin is a river named Tatar, from which they took their name, and they were formerly known as Mongols. He is translating a European atlas (Mercator-Hondius), so this is the European 'Tartary' coming back into an Ottoman book.

The second part, which lies beyond the Imaus mountains, is Tatarestan. According to Lorenzo's account, they are Mongol Tatars who spread over most of Asia … These are the original Tatars, who took their name from a river called Tatar, and were known by the name Mongal.

Working translation

Original wording

قسم ثانی که ایماوس طاغلرندن اوته اولان تاتارستاندر لورنسو تحریری اوزره انلر مغول تاتارلری اولوب آسیانك اکثرینه یایلدیلر ... بونلر تاتار اصلیدرکه تاتار نام ارماقدن اسم اخذ ایتدیلر ومونغال دیمکله معروف یرکه

Katib Celebi, Cihannuma (Muteferrika print, Istanbul 1732)
See the original page (p. 376)

About Mongol Tatars

Keep in mind

Second-hand from European atlases; the 'river Tatar' etymology comes from medieval European writers, not steppe tradition. 'Lorenzo' may be a Latin atlas author as rendered by Katib Celebi's translator.

Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR of this facsimile is garbled).

The fine print

How we know

compilation Assembled from earlier sources. The author did not observe it directly.

compilation of Islamic geographers (Abu'l-Fida, Ibn al-Wardi) with European atlases (Mercator-Hondius Atlas Minor, Ortelius, Cluverius) translated for the author; Muteferrika added material from later European sources; not firsthand

Research notes
  • Two authorial layers (Katib Celebi 1650s; Muteferrika 1732 additions) must be distinguished; European map sources are copied, so the Cihannuma is not independent evidence for Inner Asia. Norberg's Latin translation (Gihan numa, Lund 1818, MDZ bsb10251576-77) is a further layer.
  • Also relevant to the map inventory: the 1732 print's map of the 'Iqlim-i Turkistan' and world map are engraved states worth a map record.

Why it matters

The Ottoman synthesis of Islamic and European geography of Asia, with printed maps of the world, Asia and the Turkestan-Khorezm region; it shows how Ottomans in 1732 mapped the lands Europeans called Tartary, and it names the Kalmyks and Uzbeks contemporaneously with Strahlenberg.

Places named

Asia in general; China; Cathay (Hitay); Turkestan; Transoxiana; Khorezm; Dasht-i Qipchaq; Iran; Caucasus; Anatolia

Peoples named

Turkic and Central Asian peoples and states
Named only as Tartars or Tatars
Western Mongols (Oirat, Dzungar, Kalmyk)
Chinese dynasties and states
Persian, Arab, Ottoman and other Islamic states

Turks; Tatars; Uzbeks; Kalmyks (Qalmaq); Chinese; Ottomans; Safavids

Who copied whom

Earlier in the chain

See the family trees

Keep exploring

The witness before
1647 to 1673Struys's three calamitous voyages: the Volga, Astrakhan and slavery in DaghestanA Dutch sailmaker's adventure story of sailing down the Volga to Astrakhan in 1669 and being enslaved by 'Tartars' in Daghestan in 1670.Part eyewitness · 13 passages
The witness after
1654 to 1657Fyodor Baikov's embassy from Tobolsk to BeijingThe official route diary of the first Russian envoy sent to the Qing court, travelling up the Irtysh through Oirat (Kalmyk) and Mongol lands to Beijing, 1654 to 1657.Eyewitness · 4 passages
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