Cihānnümā is the summa of Ottoman geography and one of the axial texts of Islamic intellectual history. Kātib Çelebi (d. 1657) sought to combine the Islamic geographical tradition with the new European discoveries, atlases and surveys. His cosmography included a comprehensive description of the regions of the world, extending westward from Japan and as far as the eastern Ottoman provinces. Ebū Bekr b. Behrām ed-Dimaşḳī (d. 1691) continued with a survey of the Arab countries and the remaining Ottoman provinces of Anatolia. İbrāhīm Müteferriḳa combined the two, with additional notes and maps of his own, in one of the earliest Ottoman printed books, Kitāb-ı Cihānnümā (1732).
Our translation includes the entire text of Müteferriḳa’s edition, distinguishing clearly between the contributions of the three authors. Based on Kātib Çelebi’s original manuscript we have made hundreds of corrections to Müteferriḳa’s text. Additional corrections are based on comparison with Kātib Çelebi’s Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Latin and Italian sources.
Gottfried Hagen (PhD Freie Universität Berlin, 1996) is Professor of Turkish Studies at the University of Michigan. He is the author of Ein Osmanischer Geograph bei der Arbeit. Entstehung und Gedankenwelt von Kātib Čelebis Ǧihānnümā (2003, Turkish translation 2017) and many articles on Ottoman geography, cartography, and cosmology.
Robert Dankoff (PhD Harvard University 1971) is Professor Emeritus of Turkish and Islamic Studies at the University of Chicago. His most recent book is Ottoman Explorations of the Nile (2018, with Nuran Tezcan and Michael D. Sheridan).
Preface References and Abbreviations Outline of Cihānnümā
Introduction to
Cihānnümā
Gottfried Hagen
Introduction to the Translation Robert Dankoff
Translation of Cihānnümā
Part 1, by Kātib Çelebi Ferenc Csirkés, John Curry and Gary Leiser Introduction
1 On the Earth
2 On the Seas
3 On the Major Parts of the Earth
4 On the Continent of Europe
5 On (the Continent of) Africa
6 On the Continent of Asia
7 On (the Continent of) America, i.e., the New World
8 On 90 Latitude
9 On the South Pole
10 On the Relation of Countries and Directions, According to the Triplicities of the Constellations and Planets
11 On the Inhabitants of the World with Respect to Religions
12 Island of Yāpūnīā (Iaponia, Japan)
13 Map of (New) Guinea
14 Islands of Chīn u Hind (East Indies)
15 Islands of Gilolo and Molucca
16 Mindanao, etc.
17 Sumatra
18 Borneo
19 Island of Ceylon
20 Clime of Chīn u Māchīn (China)
21 Clime of Khitāy (Cathay)
22 Clime of India
23 Clime of Sind
24 Country of Makran
25 Clime of Zābulistān, Khwāst and Ashnāghar
26 Country of Kashmir and Tibet
27 Country of Sijistan
28 Country of Badakhshān, Ghūr and Ṭukhāristān
29 Clime of Kirmān, Hormuz and Lār
30 Clime of Fārs
31 Country of Khūzistān and Lūristān
32 Clime of Jabal (i.e., Jibāl) or Persian Iraq
33 Clime of Khurāsān and Quhistān
34 Country of Qūmis, Ṭabaristān and Māzandarān
35 Clime of Khwārazm, Daylam and Gīlān
36 Clime of Transoxiana
37 Clime of Turkistan and the Steppe
38 Clime of Azerbaijan
39 Clime of Arrān, Mūqān and Shirwān
40 Country of Dagestan, Georgia, etc.
41 Clime of Arminiyya
Part 2, by Ebū Bekr b. Behrām ed-Dimaşḳī Gary Leiser
42 Clime of al-Jazīra (Upper Mesopotamia)
43 Clime of ʿIrāq al-ʿArab (Lower Mesopotamia)
44 Description of the Arabian Peninsula
45 Region of Shām (Syria)
46 Description of (Province of) Anaṭolı
Appendix: Maps and Diagrams
About Maps and Diagrams Maps and Diagrams
Index
All interested in Islamic intellectual history, particularly geography.