Ottoman Explorations of the Nile: Evliya Çelebi’s Map of the Nile and The Nile Journeys in the Book of Travels (Seyahatname)

Royal Asiatic Society Books

The Royal Asiatic Society was founded in 1823 ‘for the investigation of subjects connected with, and for the encouragement of science, literature and the arts in relation to Asia’. Informed by these goals, the policy of the Society’s Editorial Board is to make available in appropriate formats the results of original research in the humanities and social sciences having to do with Asia, defined in the broadest geographical and cultural sense and up to the present day.

www.royalasiaticsociety.org

Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt Fund Series

The Royal Asiatic Society’s Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt Fund, established in 2001 by Princess Fazilé Ibrahim, encourages the growth and development of Ottoman studies internationally by publishing Ottoman documents and manuscripts of historical importance from the classical period up to 1839, with transliteration, full or part translation and scholarly commentaries. The members of the Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt Fund Editorial Board are as follows: Princess Fazilé Ibrahim, Founder, Professor Francis Robinson, CBE, Royal Holloway, University of London (Chair), Dr Evrim Binbas, Institute of Oriental and Asian Studies, University of Bonn, Professor Edhem Eldem, Bo ğ aziçi University, Istanbul, Dr Colin Heywood, SOAS, University of London, Professor Cemal Kafadar, Harvard University, Dr Claudia Römer, University of Vienna and Professor Michael Ursinus, Heidelberg University.

Publications in the series include:

Michael Ursinus, Grievance Administration (şikayet) in an Ottoman Province: The Kaymakam of Rumelia’s ‘Record Book of Complaints’ of 1781–1783, Routledge, 2005.

Hakan Karateke, An Ottoman Protocol Register, Containing ceremonies from 1736 to 1808:BEO Sadaret Defterleri 350 in the Prime Ministry Ottoman State Archives, Istanbul, The Ottoman Bank Archive and Research Centre, 2007.

First published in 2018 by

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Copyright © Robert Dankoff, Nuran Tezcan, Michael D. Sheridan 2018

The rights of Robert Dankoff, Nuran Tezcan, and Michael D. Sheridan to be identified as the authors of this work have been asserted in accordance with Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988.

Vat. Turc. 73 is reproduced by permission of Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, with all rights reserved.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher.

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Contents

List of Illustrations

Preface

Symbols Used in the Book

Note on Transliteration and Translation

Note on Currency

Editions and Translations of The Book of Travels [Seyahatname]

Abbreviations

Glossary of Administrative Terminology

Introduction

The Ottomans and the Nile

The Nile Journeys in The Book of Travels [Seyahatname]

The Vatican Map of the Nile

Muslim and Ottoman Maps of the Nile

Relation of the Map and the Book

Part I: Translation of the Vatican Map of the Nile (Vat. Turc. 73)

Prologue

The Map

Part II: Translation of Evliya Çelebi’s accounts of the Nile and the Horn of Africa, from Volume 10 of The Book of Travels [Seyahatname]

Preliminary and Cairo, Y3A–278A

First Journey: Cairo–Alexandria–Rosetta–Cairo, Y277B–341A

Second Journey: Cairo–Damietta–Cairo Y341B–360A

Third Journey: Cairo–Luxor–Ibrim Y360A–395A

Fourth Journey: Funjistan–Maghraq–Sennar–Jarsinqa Y395A–432B

Fifth Journey: Habesh Y432B–443A

Appendix I: The Turkish text of the Vatican Map

Appendix II: Map Zones

Bibliography

Index

List of Illustrations

Introduction

1.1Map showing the key places to which Evliya Çelebi travelled in Africa

1.2 & 1.3 Two maps by Ebu Bekr b. Behram ed-Dimaşki: Southern Nile, Funj, Shallal, Red Sea; Bottom; Northern Nile, Mediterranean Coast (MS Nuruosmaniye 2996; Source: Nusretü’l-İslam ve’l-Surur fi Tahrir Atlas Mayor, Nuruosmaniye Kütüphanesi, 34 Nk 2996)

1.4 & 1.5 Two images from Vat. Turc. 73 showing the formulas rahmetullahi ʿaleyh and rahimehumu’llah (‘God have mercy on him’) (Source: Vat Turc. 73 © 2018 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana)

1.6Detail of Cairo from Vat. Turc. 73 (Source: Vat. Turc. 73 © 2018 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana)

1.7Detail of Cairo by Piri Reis, circa 1730 (Source: Kitāb-ι Baḥriyye, Walters Art Museum, MS W658, 305a)

1.8Detail of Cairo from Vat. Turc. 73 (Source: Vat. Turc. 73 © 2018 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana)

1.9Detail of Cairo by Piri Reis, circa 1730 (Source: Kitāb-ι Baḥriyye, Walters Art Museum, MS W658, 305a)

Part II

2.1Cairo, Piri Reis, circa 1730 (Source: Kitāb-ι Baḥriyye, Walters Art Museum, MS W658, 305a)

2.2Illustration of the Aqueduct of Sultan Ghawri, from the 1809 Déscription de l’Égypte (État Moderne), Vol. 1 [Plates], Plate no. 20 (Source: Déscription de l’Égypte ou Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont été faites en Égypte pendant l’expédition de l’Armée Française, État Moderne, Vol. 1 [Plates], 2nd edition (Paris: Imprimerie de C.L.F. Panckoucke, 1823))

2.3Map of Evliya Çelebi’s first journey (Michael D. Sheridan)

2.4 & 2.5 The Turʿat Nasiri Canal (Kb20; Vat. Turc. 73) which Eviliya shows beginning at Surumbay (Kb19) (Source: Pierre Jacotin (ed.), Carte topographique de l’Égypte et de plusieurs parties des pays limitrophes (Paris: Dépôt de la guerre, 1818))

2.6The route from the fortress of Abu Qir to the town of Edku, from the Carte Topographique de l’Égypte (1818) (Source: Pierre Jacotin (ed.), Carte topographique de l’Égypte et de plusieurs parties des pays limitrophes (Paris: Dépôt de la guerre, 1818))

2.7Map of Evliya Çelebi’s second journey (Michael D. Sheridan)

2.8Damietta and environs, from the Carte Topographique de l’Égypte (1818) (Source: Pierre Jacotin (ed.), Carte topographique de l’Égypte et de plusieurs parties des pays limitrophes (Paris: Dépôt de la guerre, 1818))

2.9Map of Evliya Çelebi’s third journey (Michael D. Sheridan)

2.10Gebel El Silsila, from the 1809 Déscription de l’Égypte (Antiquités), Vol. 1 [Plates], Plate No. 47) (Source: Déscription de l’Égypte ou Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont été faites en Égypte pendant l’expédition de l’Armée Française, Antiquités, Vol. 1 [Plates], 2nd edition (Paris: Imprimerie de C.L.F. Panckoucke, 1820))

2.11Ruins of Kom Ombo temple, depicted by David Roberts for Egypt and Nubia (1842) (Source: David Roberts, The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia, Vol. V (London: Day & Son, 1856))

2.12& 2.13 Mummified crocodiles, from the Crocodile Museum at Kom Ombo (photographs Robert Dankoff, 29 February 2012)

2.14Map of Evliya Çelebi’s fourth journey (Michael D. Sheridan)

2.15Map of Evliya Çelebi’s fifth journey (Michael D. Sheridan)

2.16Detail from Ludolfi’s map of Abyssinia (1683), showing Dahlak, Massawa, Arkiko and Dafalo/Irafalo/Hindiya; note the legend under Arkiko reading ‘Habessiniae Portus, quem nunc Turcae tenent’ [‘Port of Habesh/Abyssinia, which is now held by the Turks’] (Source: Hiob Ludolf, Historia Aethiopica, Sive Brevis & succincta descriptio Regni Habessinorum … (Frankfurt am Main: Joh[ann] D[avid] Zunner, 1681))

2.17Detail from Ludolfi’s map of Abyssinia (1683), showing Baylur (Beilul) and Terra Salis (i.e., Tuzla) with camels bearing bales of salt (Source: Hiob Ludolf, Historia Aethiopica, Sive Brevis & succincta descriptio Regni Habessinorum … (Frankfurt am Main: Joh[ann] D[avid] Zunner, 1681))

2.18Map of Evliya Çelebi’s sixth journey (Michael D. Sheridan)

2.19Depictions of the lake in Faiyum from the 1818 Carte Topographique de l’Égypte (left) and from Vat. Turc. 73 (right) (Sources: Pierre Jacotin (ed.), Carte topographique de l’Égypte et de plusieurs parties des pays limitrophes (Paris: Dépôt de la guerre, 1818); Vat. Turc. 73)

Vatican Map Images

The complete Vatican map (colour)

The Vatican map showing zones A to N

Preface

The most ambitious effort, before the time of Napoleon (r. 1804–1814), to explore and map out the Nile was undertaken by the Ottomans, as attested by two monumental documents: an elaborate map, with 475 entries, and a lengthy travel account. Both were achieved at about the same time – circa 1685 – and both apparently by the same man.

Evliya Çelebi (1611–circa 1685) was the author of the greatest travel account in Islamic literature. His father, Derviş Mehmed Zılli, was chief goldsmith to the sultan and had houses and shops in the Unkapanı district of Istanbul. Evliya grew up in a household pervaded by accounts of Ottoman glories across the far-flung empire and in the capital. His religious training was grounded in memorisation of the Qurʾan and he studied in a madrasa for seven years. At age 25, owing to his talents as Qurʾan reciter, musician and raconteur, he was brought into the palace to serve as court entertainer to Sultan Murad IV (r. 1623–1640). There he received a more extensive training in Arabic grammar and Qurʾanic recitation, music, calligraphy and drawing – and apparently also mapmaking. At about age 30, blessed by the Prophet Muhammad in a dream, he decided on a career of travel. Directed by his father to keep an account, which would be entitled The Book of Travels [Seyahatname], Evliya set out, keeping notes that 40 years later he organised into ten large volumes. Their content is roughly as follows:

1Istanbul

2Bursa; the Black Sea coast, the Caucasus region, Crimea, Erzurum, Tabriz, Ankara; Anatolia, Celali revolts

3Damascus; Melek Ahmed Pasha as grand vizier; Özü (Ochakov), Silistria, Sofia; Ipşir Pasha as grand vizier

4Van and Bitlis; Azerbaijan, Armenia, Mesopotamia, Kurdistan

5Özü, Bosnia; expedition of grand vizier Köprülü Mehmed Pasha against Celālī rebels in western Anatolia; Moldavia and Wallachia campaigns, the siege of Varat; Sarajevo, Split, Croatian borderland

6Albania; Austrian campaign, siege of Uyvar; Hungary; Dubrovnik

7Battle of St Gotthard; Vienna; Crimea, Circassia, Kalmykia

8Greece

9Western and southern Anatolia; Chios, Cos, Rhodes; Jerusalem, Damascus; Haj pilgrimage, Mecca and Medina

10Cairo; the Delta and Alexandria; Nile journey, Funjistan, Habesh, Suakin

Evliya’s account of his Nile journeys in Volume 10 has been known to the scholarly world since 1938, when that volume was first published. A new critical edition was published in 2007.

The map, in the Vatican Library (Vat. Turc. 73), known to scholars since 1949, was first published in 2010 in a Turkish edition. The book’s authors, Robert Dankoff and Nuran Tezcan, provided detailed evidence to show that the map must be attributed to Evliya Çelebi. Most of the 475 entries are cross-referenced to corresponding passages in The Book of Travels.

This book, Ottoman Explorations of the Nile, is not simply an English version of the 2010 Turkish publication, but a completely new revised and expanded edition.

The Introduction contextualises the two documents that attest to Ottoman explorations of the Nile along the following lines:

•The Ottomans and the Nile: when, how and to what extent the Ottomans assumed control of the Nile (and also Horn of Africa); their relationship with the Funj kingdom, the Portuguese, etc; how the Nile figures in Ottoman geographical literature.

•The Nile journeys in The Book of Travels: Evliya’s goals and methods; his travels in Egypt and Sudan and along the Red Sea coast; an outline of his six journeys; problems regarding the dates and authenticity of the journeys.

•The Vatican Map of the Nile: previous scholarship; the structure and contents of the map; manner of referring to the 475 entries.

•Arab and Ottoman Maps of the Nile: cartographic traditions to which Evliya had access and which he may have been influenced by; gauging to what degree the Vatican map of the Nile is an original creation.

•Relation of the map and the book: similarities and correspondences in content, language and style; discrepancies between the two documents and how to account for them.

Part I presents the entire map – the Prologue and the 475 entries containing both text and drawings – in English translation; a transcription of the original Turkish text of the map is given in an appendix. Considered as a text, the map is extraordinarily challenging philologically; this edition incorporates many new readings, bringing it one step closer to a definitive edition. Each of the 475 rubrics has been assigned a zone letter and number so that the entry can be read alongside the relevant map reference. Some entries also have a drawing, usually either a walled city or a mountain.

Part II presents the book (i.e. Evliya’s travel account) in English translation. We have tried to include all passages that have any relevance to the map. For most towns and villages, we have included information about administration, the built environment and social and economic features, excluding only lengthy descriptions of mosques and madrasas, saints’ tombs, khans and other buildings, as well as historical excurses and hagiographies unless there is reference to these on the map. For the larger cities, Cairo and Alexandria in particular, we have only excerpted those passages that have direct relevance to the map.¹ The passages translated in Part II retain the order and amplitude of the original. Thus we give full weight to both documents attesting to Ottoman explorations in Africa. By translating them separately, the integrity of each is preserved, while the relation between them is indicated through ample cross-references, allowing the reader to follow both together (see list below).

The translation of the text relating to each of Evliya’s six journeys is accompanied by a map indicating his route and some of the places that he visited. In the cases of the fourth and fifth journeys, when Evliya ventured beyond Ottoman territory, there is at times uncertainty about the route followed and, in the case of his undoubtedly fanciful journey to Mogadishu, about the authenticity of the journey itself. These doubtful routes and journeys have been indicated as such on the journey maps. We have included on these maps only those places whose identity is certain and only places of some size (larger cities and towns) and/or significance (in terms of Evliya devoting a good deal of space to them).

Symbols Used in the Book

In the translation, we use a number of symbols to denote missing or illegible text:

Cross-references and author commentary are given as follows:

Note that italics in the translation signifies that the original text is Arabic or Persian, not Turkish.

Note on Transliteration and Translation

Generally, we render Egyptian place names in their normalised Arabic form, except when they are clearly Turkish.² Names with the Arabic letter jim are given according to the Egyptian pronunciation (thus Girga rather than Jirja, etc). That Evliya himself pronounced gim as jim in this part of the world is evident through his spelling of Gherar as Jarrar-bashı (Y439a) and Ghedem as Jida (Y439b).³ Elsewhere, too, standard forms substitute for Evliya’s eccentricities. Thus we have Arkiko (or Harqiqo) and Massawa instead of Kharq-ova and Musova,⁴ and Dembiya for Evliya’s Dumbiya and Dumbistan.⁵ We have tended to Arabise proper names as well, even some that can be considered Turkish. Thus we have Janbuladzade Husayn Pasha (substituting for Canpoladzade Hüseyin Paşa). Clearly Turkish names, however, are given in modern Turkish transcription.

‘Town’ and ‘village’ (unspecified) correspond to belde/beled and karye/kura respectively (belide is also translated ‘village’); otherwise they are specified, thus: ‘town (kasaba)’, etc. Kasaba implies an administrative centre, and since this is a Turkish usage, the Turkish spelling is retained (rather than qasaba). Mahalle is translated as ‘town quarter’. But note that Evliya extends the Egyptian use of mahalla in such town names as al-Mahalla al-Kabir to many other towns, and we have retained his usage; for example, Mahallat Sharawi and Mahallat Darawi (in the Turkish text: Mahalle-i Sirâvî ve Mahalle-i Derâvî, Y340a). ‘Entrepot’ translates bender. ‘City’ translates sehr. ‘Fortress’ and ‘castle’ correspond to kalʿa, the part of a settlement enclosed by a wall (as opposed to varoş, the extra-mural or ex-urban settlement). Place names using this term again follow Evliya’s usage; for example, the Ancient Qalʿat Burullus (in the Turkish text: kalʿa-i kadîm-i Burlos, Y342a).

Sebil is rendered as ‘public fountain’ or ‘water dispensary’. Types of Nile boats include the ʿaqaba, jarim, and qayasa (see the illustrations from Piri Reis, Figs. 1.9 and 2.1). Parasang, rendering farsah, isameasureofdistance(approximately3miles). Fatiha and Yasin refer to surah 1 and surah 36 respectively of the Qurʾan, both fre-quently recited for pious purposes. Dhikr, a Qurʾanic term meaning ‘remembrance of God’ and applying to various Sufi rituals, substitutes in the translation for the following, which Evliya seems to use indiscriminately: tevhid(Y304b), tevhid-i erre(Y277b-279a), tevhid-i ʿaşikan(Y279b), tevhid-i sultani(Y278b), tevhid [ü] tehlil(Y279a), tevhid [ü] tezkir(Y280a, Y341a) and zikrullah(Y280a).

Terms accepted as English words, and thus not translated, include khan for a public inn and its equivalent in Egypt, wakala; hammam for a public bath; mastaba for a stone bench; boza for a beverage made of fermented millet;⁶ ardab for a dry measure (approximately 6 bushels);⁷ okka for a measure of weight (approximately 1.3 kg); sakia for a water contraption; Sharia for Islamic law; madrasa for a religious school; and qibla for the direction of prayer.⁸

The transliteration follows the system of the International Journal of Middle East Studies with few exceptions. Diacritical marks have been added to manuscript titles and to Arabic quotations, but not to proper or geographical names and to terms in the translated text of Seyahatname.

Note on Currency

Akçe, a small silver coin, was the basic unit of account in the Ottoman empire in the 17th century. (Typically Evliya says of a place, ‘It is a kadi district at the 150-akçe level’, meaning that the kadi’s salary is 150 akçes per diem, an amount allowing him to maintain a prosperous household.) The gurush or Groschen, a foreign (Venetian or Spanish) silver coin, was worth about 80 akçe. The para was a small coin worth 1/40th of a gurush. The smallest unit of currency was the copper mankir, equivalent to the Arabic fuls, of which there were four in an akçe. ‘Egyptian purse’ was a unit of account equivalent to 833 gurush, while ‘Egyptian treasure’ was a unit of expense equivalent to 1,200 Egyptian purses. Otherwise, ‘purse’ (kise) was equivalent to 500 gurush. Another term that comes up is yük (lit. ‘load’), meaning 100,000 akçe.

Editions and Translations of The Book of Travels [Seyahatname]

References are usually to Y, the ‘Yildiz’ manuscript of Vol. 10 (Istanbul Üniversitesi Kütüphanesi Türkçe Yazmalar 5973). Occasionally we cite passages not found in this manuscript, in which case the reference is usually to Q (Süleymaniye Kütüphanesi Haci Beşir Ağa 452), or occasionally also to P (Süleymaniye Kütüphanesi Pertev Paşa 462). All of the references may be located in the YKY critical edition: Seyit Ali Kahraman, Yücel Dağli and Robert Dankoff (eds.), Evliya Çelebi Seyahatnamesi 10. Kitap (Istanbul: Yapi Kredi Yayinlari, 2007). References to Vol. 9 (indicated by IX) are also to Y, the ‘Yildiz’ manuscript (Topkapi Sarayi Kütüphanesi Bağdat 306) and can be located in the YKY critical edition: Yücel Dağli, Seyit Ali Kahraman and Robert Dankoff (eds.), Evliya Çelebi Seyahatnamesi 9. Kitap (Istanbul: Yapi K redi Yayinlari, 2005). We do not cite the older edition of Volume 10: Evliya Çelebi Seyahatnamesi, onuncu cilt (Istanbul, 1938); nor have we consulted the Arabic translation: Muhammad ʿAli ʿAwni, ʿAbd al-Wahhab ʿAzzam, Ahmad al-Saʿid Sulayman and Ahmad Fuad Mutawalli (eds.), Siyāḥatnāmat Miṣr, (Cairo: Dar al-kutub wa al-wathaʾiq al-qawmiyya, 2009).

Abbreviations

1For Cairo, see KAIRO; for Alexandria, see Bacqué-Grammont and Tuchscherer 2013.

2cf. the practice in Winter 1992. Diacritics are generally omitted, except where the discussion hinges on them. However, all diacritics are included in Appendix: The Turkish text of the Vatican Map.

3cf. Bombaci 1943, 269, n. 2.

4In these two cases Evliya tried to assimilate the place names to Turkish names with ova, meaning ‘valley’; thus, there is also Khanende-ova (‘Singing Valley’) for Hadendoa.

5Note that Bombaci 1943, 261, n. 1, thought that the u was a mistake of the editor, but that is not the case; rather, e is rounded because of its proximity to a rounded consonant, m (cf. Massawa > Musova); perhaps also Dumbistan was created by analogy with Funjistan.

6cf. Lane 1908, 96.

7Note that a quintal (rendering kantar) is approximately 80 okkas or 100 kg, while a batman is approximately 23 kg and a miskal approximately 4.8 g.

8Evliya’s use of kιble is problematic. If the reference is to winds, kιble usually means south-east, in contradistinction to cenub for south. (For more discussion of this point, see Bruinessen and Boeschoten 1988, 201, n. 2.) Thus, in this book, kιble is usually translated ‘south-east’ (but where it is a term for the direction of prayer, it is rendered literally as ‘qibla’); yildiz as ‘north’ (but ‘north-west’ when it is coupled with şimal, meaning ‘north’); lodos as ‘south-west’; keşişleme as ‘south-east’; poyraz as ‘north-east’; karayel as ‘northwest’; garb as ‘west’; and gündoğ(r)usu as ‘east’. Evliya’s usual reference point for the eight winds is Istanbul; see Mantran 1962, 21, Carte 3.

Glossary of Administrative Terminology

Introduction

Evliya Çelebi, author of The Book of Travels [Seyahatname], arrived in Cairo on 4 June 1672 (7 Safer 1083), having completed the Haj pilgrimage. After decades of travelling throughout the Ottoman Empire, with forays into Iran and Central Europe, he might well have considered the nine large volumes that culminated in his account of the Haj to be a lifetime accomplishment.¹ But his travels were not done: he spent the next ten years exploring Egypt and its African hinterland. These explorations resulted in two monumental achievements.

One of these is an elaborate map of the Nile River, preserved in the Vatican Library (Vat. Turc. 73). While Evliya’s authorship of the map is not immediately apparent, it emerges clearly when compared with his travel account, as argued extensively below. An edition and translation of the map constitute Part I of this book.

Evliya’s other achievement is Volume 10 of The Book of Travels [Seyahatname], arguably the richest and certainly the longest of the ten volumes. Roughly half is devoted to Cairo, with excurses on the history and geography of Egypt, Ottoman administration in Egypt, the fauna of the Nile, the Moulid (birthday celebration) of Ahmad al-Badawi in Tanta and many other topics. The second half is a description of his expeditions along the Nile. First, he goes from Cairo to Alexandria and Rosetta and to Damietta along the two branches of the Nile in the Delta. Then, setting out once again from Cairo, he travels as far south as Sudan and returns via Habesh (Abyssinia, roughly today’s Eritrea) and the Red Sea coast. His accounts of these journeys, in translation, constitute Part II of this book.

Figure 1.1: Map showing the key places to which Evliya Çelebi travelled in Africa

The Ottomans and the Nile

When the Ottomans conquered the Mamluks in 1517 they assumed stewardship of the Nile valley in Egypt, with its metropolis of Cairo (often referred to in Ottoman usage as Misir, the same term as for Egypt as a whole), along with Syria and the Holy Cities in the Hijaz.² Later expeditions added the provinces of Habesh and Yemen to the Ottoman domains, though these proved to be less permanent conquests.³ The southern Ottoman frontier was established at Ibrim, with the Funj kingdom in control of the Nile Valley in Sudan.⁴

Given that Egypt and the Nile Valley were the most profitable areas in the empire and their strategic importance in relation to the Holy Cities in Arabia, the geography of this region was naturally of concern to Ottoman imperial administrators. Shortly after the conquest, the celebrated sea captain Piri Reis sailed up the Nile as far as Cairo; he included his mappings of the river and of the metropolis in his Kitāb-ı Baḥriyye [Book of Navigation], which otherwise is confined to the Mediterranean coastal waters (see discussion below on Arab and Ottoman maps of the Nile). Thus, by the 17th century, Egypt and the Nile had become part of a rich discourse of Ottoman geographical and travel writings.⁵

The two Çelebis⁶ – the polymath Katib Çelebi (1609–1657) and the traveller Evliya Çelebi (1611–circa 1685) – exemplify the range of these Ottoman geographical preoccupations. At the beginning of his Cihannüma [Cosmorama], Katib Çelebi – also known as Hacı Halife (Haji Khalifa) – writes:

It is not concealed from the minds of knowledgeable men that the science of geography … is so excellent a science and so desired a skill, that one who has experience of it and knows its subtleties can, while seated on the cushion of repose in the parlour of security and sociability, move around the world in an instant like world travellers who go to the ends of the earth. Such intellectual journeying enables one to acquire a level of knowledge that those who have spent a lifetime travelling are unable to reach. That is because, by continual recourse to the books of the geographers, every corner of the earth becomes engraved on the tablet of the heart, so that when it is time to recall it, it flashes instantly upon the imagination in general outline and one sees it in the mirror of the mind as though it is before one’s eyes.⁷

Katib Çelebi wrote the Cihannüma towards the end of his life, leaving it uncompleted when he died in 1657. He was a man of books: his bibliography of Islamic literature, Kashf al-ẓunūn⁸ (written in Arabic), is still a major resource for literary historians. He gathered and recorded information about countries and cities the same way he did for books. In addition to the Islamic sources in Arabic, Persian and Turkish, he made use of European works such as the Atlas Minor of Mercator, which he had translated for him into Turkish. On the subject of maps, he wrote:

In this book [Cihannüma], I did not feel compelled to copy all of the maps (eşkal), and have left some things out for conciseness’ sake. For it would be a laborious task to copy all the maps from one manuscript to another. And since there is no printing in our country, it would be difficult to illustrate even a single page. So when a copy was made, there would be blank spaces left (where the illustrations would have gone) and the book would be defective. Therefore I was satisfied with including some of the general maps (eşkal-i ʿamme). The coordinates of the important cities recorded on these maps were included in the text; they were not consigned to the maps. So even if the maps had to be omitted, the book would not be defective but would stand on its own and adequately describe this subject.

The problem is that there are few scribes who can copy a text with all its illustrations properly in place – in our country there may be none – and the (miserable?) condition of those who can is well known. Nevertheless, it is to be hoped that those brethren who make copies of this esteemed book, or employ others to do so, will take pains to include the illustrations in their proper places, so the book will not turn into a boor stripped of his clothes or a bird with plucked tail and wings. This is because fine illustrations are one of the requisites of this science, which traditionally has been expounded by addressing both the mind and the senses. But what can we do about fools who think these illustrations are useless and cut them off when they copy the book? May God bring misfortune on their heads and cut off the days of their lives!⁹

Evliya Çelebi was the opposite of the armchair traveller and ‘intellectual journeyer’ touted by Katib Çelebi. He insisted on eyewitness reporting (though he actually resorted to books much more than he admitted).¹⁰ He aimed to traverse the entire course of the Nile, from the Mediterranean outlets as far as its source. And he had the intention of recording his explorations in his travelogue and on a map – both of which goals he achieved.

The Nile Journeys in The Book of Travels [Seyahatname]

¹¹

The Nile journeys are full of original and interesting observations. Some were made in a poorly known geographical area and in regions of wilderness inhabited by peoples who were considered heathens. Evliya’s trip southward up the Nile was ultimately animated by the desire to reach the river’s source, in an age when it had not yet been discovered and was still swathed in legend. From his home base in Cairo, he aimed to travel the entire length of the river. While he did not reach the source – a goal that had proved unattainable to both Roman and Arab travellers, and would indeed not be attained for another two centuries – he did manage to explore and describe much of the present-day countries of Egypt and Sudan. He also went through Ethiopia to Habesh on the Red Sea coast (presentday Eritrea) and continued as far east as the Strait of Zeila (at the border of Somalia and Djibouti), before returning to Cairo.

Evliya set out in a party of seven or eight men with the commission and backing of Ketkhuda Ibrahim Pasha,¹² the Ottoman governor of Egypt, and with letters of recommendation to the governors of the places where he was going. He sometimes went by boat on the Nile, sometimes on horseback, and in some places he halted for long periods. Wherever he went he was received and hosted by high officials, such as governors, kings and sultans. By his own reckoning, the journeys occupied around nine months, from August 1672 to April 1673. But if we consider the periods that Evliya gives in The Book of Travels [Seyahatname], they must have been spread over a considerably longer time. He spent one month in Alexandria (Y329a) and a month in the company of Ketkhuda Ibrahim Pasha upon returning to Cairo from Damietta (Y359b–360a); stayed for 40 days in Sennar (Y417b) and two months in Firdaniya (Y429b); took 45 days to return from Jarsinqa to Sennar (Y431b); and stayed one month in Zeila (Q338a). If we add the return trip, plus the many days between the hundreds of stages in the various journeys, it comes to much more than nine months. To account for the discrepancy, we must assume either that some of the dates and periods mentioned are arbitrary, or that some of the journeys are fictional, or both.

The six journeys, as narrated in Volume 10 of The Book of Travels [Seyahatname] (Y277b–450b + Q345a P339a–Q350b P344b), are as follows:¹³

1. Cairo–Alexandria–Rosetta–Cairo, Y277b–341a

Arriving in Cairo from the Haj pilgrimage on 7 April 1672 (Y2b),¹⁴ Evliya enters the retinue of Ibrahim Pasha. Four months later, on 7 August (Y277b), during the ceremonies conducted in Cairo by the shaikhs and dervishes of Seyyid Ahmad al-Badawi in order to obtain the warrant authorising the Moulid in Tanta for that year, he is commissioned by Ibrahim Pasha to take letters to the kashifs (provincial governors) of Gharbiya and Minufiya provinces. The preparations are made in Bulaq (Cairo’s port) and take three days. The next morning, the Badawi caravan – consisting of 12 ships, each with 4 decks and 2,000 passengers, plus 200 (or else 600 or 700!) qayasa fishing boats and caiques, and constituting a party of 40,000 or 50,000 people – sets off on the Nile. While conversing with his friends the shaikhs on a smaller boat, Evliya begins to record information about the places they pass on both sides of the river: Shubra, Batn al-Baqar (Y279b), Mit Ghamr, Minuf (Y281b). In Tanta (Y284b), after delivering the letters to the kashifs of Gharbiya and Minufiya, he observes the Moulid.¹⁵ Before travelling back to Cairo, he proceeds down the western branch of the Nile, passing through Mahallat al-Marhum and Abyar to Nahariya (Y295b) and Farasdak. Here he observes the Moulid of Ibrahim Dassuki (Y301a). Arriving in Damanhur (Y304b), Evliya notes that he has been touring Egypt for eight years (Y306a). He joins another Moulid on 29 September (Y307a). Finally he arrives in Alexandria (Y313b), where he stays for one month (Y329a). After an inspection tour of Abu Qir, he proceeds to Rosetta, where, at the mouth of the Nile, he prays that he might travel as far as the river’s source (Y336b). On the return journey to Cairo he passes back and forth to the provinces of Gharbiya and Buhayra and Minufiya (Y337a–339a), stopping at Birimbal, Dayrut, Ashmun and Giza. Crossing the Nile at Imbaba (Y341a), he returns to Cairo and reports to Ketkhuda Ibrahim Pasha.

2. Cairo–Damietta–Cairo (Y341b–360a)

The Pasha now commissions Evliya to inspect the garrisons of Burullus, Damietta and Tina in order that he have the opportunity to tour the Damietta branch of the Nile as well. When he reaches Damietta (Y344b), he again observes where the Nile flows into the Mediterranean, then makes his inspection of Gharbiya fortress (Y349a) and receives his wage. On the return journey to Cairo he stops at al-Mansura (Y352a) and al-Mahalla al-Kubra (Y355b). Returning to Cairo, he presents gifts to Ketkhuda Ibrahim Pasha (Y359b). He remains in the city for one month (Y360a).

3. Cairo–Luxor–Ibrim (Y360a–395a)

The Pasha now sends Evliya to the governor of Girga in Upper Egypt with a commission regarding the recovery of a boat that had sunk at Asyut. Evliya, seizing the opportunity, says that he wants to go to Funjistan and requests letters for that journey as well. The Pasha has letters drawn up and provides Evliya with gifts to take to the King of Funjistan and a letter of introduction in which he speaks of him as though he were an important individual sent by the Ottoman state (Y360b).

Evliya sets out in May 1672,¹⁶ stops at Minya, Manfalut and Asyut, the Mountain of Birds (Y369b) and Sohag, then arrives at Girga (Y373a). Continuing his journey up the Nile on 28 May 1672,¹⁷ he stops at Qena (Y379b), where he departs from his main route and in ten hours arrives at the Red Sea port of al-Qusayr (Y381a).¹⁸ Returning to the Nile in nine hours, he visits Luxor (Y382b), Kom Ombo (Y384b), Aswan (Y386a–388a), Wadi al-Subuʿ (Y390a) and Derr (Y390b) before arriving in Ibrim (Y391a), the southernmost limit of the Ottoman Empire. Here he gets friendly letters of introduction for the Funj amirs and king and sets out towards the south with a caravan of 800 men. He writes that he intends to make a map of the places he has seen and produce a work like the Papamunta (Mappa Mundi; Y392a). Arriving in Saï (Y393a), his party urges him to give up going to Funjistan because the road is unsafe. But Evliya insists and repeats his prayer to see the source of the Nile.

4. Funjistan–Maghraq–Sennar–Jarsinqa (Y395a–432b)

In the cities he now goes to, Evliya is met by Funj governors, given protectors and assured of his personal security on the road. After visiting Maghraq, Tannara and Sese, he reports (Y396b) that he crossed the equator at a distance of three hours from Narnarinta.¹⁹ Other places he describes are Hafir al-Saghir, Hafir al-Kabir, Qandi, Nawri and Sindi. In the desert of Daniqa, Evliya meets the King of Nubia, which he calls Berberistan (Y398a). Beyond Wardan, in the plain of Hanqoch, he is greeted by Kör Husayn Bey, to whom he hands over the letters of the Ottoman governor of Egypt as well as those of the notables of Girga, Derr, Ibrim and Saï. Together they make their way to Lake Feyle, where he stays for two months (Y399b). He witnesses the Funj raid on the fortress of Firdaniya in October 1672 (Y401a).

Continuing on to Dongola, Tangusi, and Gherri, he eventually comes to Ilgun Dongola,²⁰ the capital of Berberistan.²¹ At Arbaji he is met by Qan Jirjis, the King of Funjistan’s brother and his vizier, who subjects him to some embarrassing interrogation (Y409b). At Itshan he encounters two Bektashi dervishes from Turkey, who join his retinue. Then, at Hillat al-Jundi Thawr, he meets the Sultan of Sudan, Malik Qaqan, who is the Funj emperor (Y412b). After greetings and an exchange of gifts, they set out together towards Sennar, reaching it on 11 December 1672 (Y413a). Calculating the elevation with astrolabe and quadrant, Evliya determines that they are 30 stages south of the equator (Y417a). He spends the month of Ramadan 1083 (with the festival on 24 January 1673) here with Malik Qaqan, remaining a total of 40 days (Y417b). They continue south to Rumeilat al-Himal (Y426b) and eventually to Mt. Shawam, where Evliya takes another elevation and finds that they have travelled 70 stages from the equator (Y429a). Having come 180 stages from Cairo in eight months, they return to the vilayet of Sudan on 18 February 1673 (Y429b), and at Jarsinqa they are told that it is another 32 stages south to the source of the Nile. Evliya returns to Rumeila and Sennar, where he obtains leave from the king, along with letters, gifts and an armed guard, and sets out for Habesh. The round trip between Sennar and Jarsinqa with the King of Sudan has taken 40 days (Y432a). He returns to Itshan and Arbaji, where he again meets with Qan Jirjis. Informed about the road to Habesh by some Turkish-speaking Djabarti aghas who are officials of the Habesh garrison, he sets out on the 20-day journey.

5. Habesh (Y432b–443a)

Evliya goes to Wadi Qoz (Qoz Rajab?) and proceeds through Ethiopia, which he calls the vilayet of Dembiya, reaching Habesh territory at Abrash (Y434b) and finally the Red Sea port of Dunqunab (Y435a). He tours Suakin, the island of Dahlak, Massawa and Gherar, arriving at Arkiko on 29 March 1673 (Y440b). Proceeding overland to Hindiya, Beilul and Zeila (Y442a Q337b) he observes the Oman Strait and the Bab al-Mandab. He then pretends to go on south to Mogadishu before returning to Arkiko on 16 June (Q339a). Retracing his steps to Dunqunab, he heads west and eventually returns to Ibrim on 13 September (Y443a).

Evliya tells us what a difficult and extraordinary journey this was; that God granted it to him as a favour; and that the information he gathered from it would be added to the books of world geography. Giving a summary of his previous travels, he emphasises the great distances he has covered (Y443a–b).

6. Ibrim–Faiyum–Cairo (Y443a Q341a – Q355b)

Evliya returns to Girga and proceeds to Al-Wahat (the oases, Kharga), Bahnasa and Faiyum (Q346b). While in Giza he tours the pyramids (Q349b).²² Returning to Cairo on 18 April 1673 (Q350a), Evliya gives the King of Funjistan’s gifts to Ketkhuda Ibrahim Pasha.

In August, Ibrahim Pasha is removed from office and in the next month Jan-buladzade Husayn Pasha becomes governor. Evliya immediately attaches himself to his new patron, who does a number of good works in Egypt. But after two years in office, Husayn Pasha is forced to flee due to an uprising as Egypt is thrown into turmoil. Evliya then witnesses several uprisings in Cairo. In July 1676 ʿAbdurrahman Pasha, whom he met 20 years earlier in Transylvania, is appointed governor and Evliya goes to Syria with the official greeting party (Q354a). During this journey he passes through Sabil ʿAllam, Matariya, ʿAyn Shams, Khankah, Bilbais, ʿArish, Amsus, ʿAtfih, and Salihiya (Q355a).²³

The Vatican Map of the Nile

The map consists of a Prologue and 475 entries – distinct geographical areas demarcated by lines, characterised in a text, and often marked by a drawing, with most of the drawings representing either a walled city or mountains. For ease of reference, we have divided the map into twenty zones as follows:

Previous Scholarship

The map was first studied by Ettore Rossi,²⁴ who provided the following information:

The map (Vat. Turc. 73) is 543 cm long, 45 cm wide in the southern and 88 cm wide in the northern half; it is drawn upon rough cloth and represents the Valley of the Nile from its sources at the fabulous Mountains of the Moon to the Mediterranean Sea between the Red Sea and the Libyan Desert. The map has suffered injuries from time and seems to have been eaten by mice: in some parts there are lacunas.

Rossi went on to describe the contents of the map in rough outline and to speculate on its date and authorship. He pointed out that it must have been composed around 1685, the death date of Defterdar Ibrahim Pasha who is mentioned on the map (at Jb1) as having passed away. Rossi also noted the ‘strict correspondence’ between the contents of the map and Volume 10 of The Book of Travels [Seyahatname]. He suggested that the map ‘was drawn in connection with Evliyá Celebi’s book by one of his readers, perhaps by a person of the author’s suite’. And he concluded: ‘A full discussion of these problems and the question of the relative importance of both the map and Evliyá Celebi’s book … requires more space and use of oriental texts; we shall fulfil this work elsewhere.’ Unfortunately, this intention was not fulfilled.

Rossi’s article includes some black-and-white photographs that give an idea of how the map looks. The only other publication to include a photograph of the map is an article on Ottoman geographical maps by Ahmet T. Karamustafa, who pointed out:

Since Evliyā Çelebi is known to have spent the last part of his life in Egypt and died there, there is a distinct possibility that he played a role in producing this map, though there is no proof of such a connection. Conceptually, the map itself should be viewed as an attempt to illustrate legends, historical or otherwise, that surrounded the river Nile in Islamic literature. In execution and style, it is somewhat reminiscent of the earliest extant Islamic map, namely al-Khwārazmī’s map of the Nile.²⁵

Several scholars have made use of the Vatican map for their studies relating to Nubia and the Sudan. Petti Suma was the first to use Vat. Turc. 73 in studying The Book of Travels [Seyahatname]. Udal followed suit (with acknowledgment to V.L. Ménage) in an attempt to reconcile the information on the Nile map with that provided in The Book of Travels [Seyahatname] (and by later travellers such as Burckhardt) for the region of the Funj kingdom in Sudan. Elzein, in her recent survey, states: ‘In terms of documentary research, a more detailed study of the text of Evliya Çelebi as well as the Vatican map than has been undertaken to date is needed.’ Peacock and Habraszewski have expessed scepticism about some of the information on the map and in the corresponding texts of the book.²⁶

Dankoff and Tezcan published the map for the first time in 2011, including the information in the book corresponding to each of the 475 entries. From their study they arrived at two basic conclusions: first, that although Evliya’s name does not appear on the map, it is clearly by him, in conception if not wholly in execution; and second, that the map is largely an original creation.²⁷

Muslim and Ottoman Maps of the Nile

In some ways, Vat. Turc. 73 can be viewed as the culmination of Islamic mappings of the Nile going back to the 9th-century Persian geographer al-Khwarazmi. In particular, Evliya depended on this Islamic tradition for the southernmost parts of the Nile to which he had no access.

The real origin of the Nile always remained unknown to Muslim scholars and travellers. It is a curious fact, however, that the information on this subject which we find uniformly repeated in the Islamic sources from the treatise of al-Khwārazmī (c[irc]a 215/830) onwards gives an idea of the origin of the Nile which does not correspond entirely to the data furnished by the classical sources. This conception makes the Nile emerge from the Mountains of the Moon (Jabal al-Qamar) to the south of the equator; from this mountain come ten rivers, of which the first five and the second five reach respectively two lakes lying on the same latitude; from each lake one or more rivers flow to the north where they fall into a third lake and it is from this lake that the Nile of Egypt begins. This conception is largely schematised and corresponds only partly to Ptolemy’s description of the Nile sources; Ptolemy knows only of two lakes, not lying on the same latitude and does not speak of a great number of rivers coming from the Mountains of the Moon. The third lake especially is an innovation … The system described by al-Khwārazmī of the origin of the Nile is represented on the map in the Strasbourg MS and is repeated many times after him (Ibn Khurradādhbih, Ibn al-Faḳīh, Ḳudāma, Suhrāb, al-Idrīsī and later authors).²⁸

The top portion of Vat. Turc. 73 follows this schema. It is certainly based on a map in this tradition, although it contains additional material (the Magnetic Mountain, the eleven bridges) not found in any of the maps cited above. We have not yet traced the particular source.²⁹

Zones A and B of our edition are largely based on this traditional lore regarding the sources of the Nile. But as soon as we reach Zone C we find material that is mainly based on Evliya’s journey in the Funj kingdom and Habesh, and in Zone E we reach Qasr Ibrim and Ottoman territory. We may assume that Evliya had access to Ottoman maps, and possibly European maps, showing the Nile from here to the capital at Cairo and from Cairo to the Delta, but there is no specific evidence that he made use of any. Rather, nearly all the information given on the map seems to be based on his own travels.

He himself says:

Y392a I too have recorded so many fortresses and regions, as in the Mappa Mundi, and rivers and mountains and lakes, in the manner that I learned from my master Naqqash Hükmizade ʿAli Bey. May God vouchsafe that I complete this journey of the Nile and the Funj kingdom and record their forms in a map.

We have not yet traced Naqqash Hükmizade ʿAli Bey. Presumably he was a scholar and a court painter (nakkaş) with whom Evliya studied during his younger years at the Ottoman court in Istanbul.³⁰

We would expect Evliya to have been familiar with at least one previous Ottoman mapping of the Nile, that of Piri Reis. As mentioned above, this Ottoman sea captain sailed up the Nile as far as Cairo shortly after the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517, and he included his mappings of the river and of the metropolis in his Kitāb-ι Baḥriyye, which otherwise is confined to the Mediterranean coastal waters.³¹

If we compare Piri Reis’s maps of the Nile with the corresponding section of Vat. Turc. 73 we see that there is little resemblance.³² For example, between Rosetta and Farasdak, Piri Reis has the following (see Mantran, figs. 5–6), compared with Vat. Turc. 73 (Part I: Kc9–25, Kb12–19, 23–29) and The Book of Travels [Seyahatname] (Y337a–338b):³³

While the dependence of Vat. Turc. 73 on The Book of Travels [Seyahatname] is clear, there is no obvious instance where Evliya depends on Piri Reis, either on the map or in the book (but see below p. 36, discussion of Cairo).

Among the numerous maps that Katib Çelebi drew