Ottoman Geography Studies After the Classical Age
Abstract
Although there is no definite distinction, after the classical age, the Ottoman geography studies mainly consist of translations of works of East origin and works created by the influence of Islamic geography. In the mid-17th century, as a person who marked the century, Kâtib Çelebi led the way to the development of geography in the modern sense by transferring the developments in Europe to the Ottoman world with his translation and other works (especially the translation of Gerardus Mercator's Atlas Minor). In the later studies, it is seen that the works of East-West synthesis were written by the translations by Kâtib Çelebi. In this respect, in this study, geographers and their works from the 17th century until the end of the Ottoman Empire are discussed. In this context, the works of the personalities like Kâtib Çelebi and later Evliya Çelebi, Ebubekir Dımeşkî, İbrahim Müteferrika and Bartınlı İbrahim Hamdi are evaluated in terms of both the content of the original works and the cartography. In addition, the manuscripts written earlier in the field of geography, as well as copies of the works written after the 16th century, are discussed. In general, the article focuses on the impact of Kâtib Çelebi's approach to the Ottoman geography until the end of the Ottoman Empire and the translation works carried out in the 19th centuryin the field of geography.
Key Words: Ottoman Cartography, Ottoman Geographers, Atlas, Ottoman History, Geography Studies
Ahmet Üstüner
