Osmanlı İmparatorluğunda Coğrafya ve Kartografya
Cartographic Representation of the Western Black Sea Region in Ottoman Cartography
Ahmet ÜstünerMaps are indispensable parts of documents and chronicles that help explain historical events. As in other regions in which the Ottoman Empire has ruled since its establishment, there are many maps in archives and geographical works on the western half of the Black Sea. These geographical descriptions sometimes exist as a single map, as part of a narrative in a geographical work, or as detailed drawings showing a small region in the context of a historical event. Although the scarcity of sources in the early periods of the Ottoman Empire directed the study only to geographical works and portolans, as of the end of the 17th century independent maps drawn from historical contexts enrich this field. In this respect, this study focuses on the western region of the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, Crimea, the basins of the Dnieper and Danube Rivers, and the historical regions of Transilvania, Wallachia-Moldavia, Basarabia and Dobrudja in the historical context. From the earliest available sources at the end of the Empire, maps and plans of the region are analyzed in cartography and historical contexts. In this context, this article examines how the Ottoman conquests and wars with the neighboring states during the following periods were reflected on maps of the region, how they found places in geographical narratives, and what were the nomenclature of settlements during these periods. This study extends from the early Ottoman cartographic works to the second half of the 19th century, when cartographic studies increased thanks to technical developments. The main sources of this article are the works of Tancalı Ahmed and Mürsiyeli İbrahim’s Portolans, Ptolemy’s Translation into Ottoman (Arabic), Kitâb-ı Bahriyye of Piri Reis, Ali Macar Reis Atlas, Atlas-ı Hümâyun, Muhît Atlas, Kâtib Çelebi’s works, translations of Mercator’s Atlas Minor and Blaeu’s Atlas Mayor and İbrahim Müteferrika’s map, as well as maps and plans in archives since the first quarter of the 15th century.
