For many years little was known about Piri Reis .His name is rougly translated as Captain Piri yet we
know that based on the Otoman Archives his full name was "Hadji Ahmed Muhiddin Piri".Piri Reis was an
Otoman adimiral,geographer and cartographer born in either 1465 or 1470 . The exact date is not known
.He died in 1533.This is certain.Piri Reis is world famous.He gained his fame thanks to a book named
Kitab-ı Bahriye which contains a considirable amount of detailed information about navigation and very
accurate charts showing crucial ports and cities of Meditarranean Sea .A small part of his first world map
prepared in 1513 was discovered in 1929 at Topkapı Palace in İstanbul and this was enough to make whole
world admire him
.
As to the reasons why ı chose him, his successive and ambitious life story takes up the first place among
other reasons.In spite of his age ,he won several important wars whıch helped the Glorious Otoman Empire
extend its borders to the other parts of the world. I was impressed by his unique properties.His complex and
spectacular maps were mysteries to the world until the very recent time when they have just been brightened
The United Nations Educational ,Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has agreed to declare
2013 the year of Piri Reis thanks to the maps he drew up which includes seven continents.UNESCO must
have thought the same way ı did because ı would do the same .Piri Reis is one of those uniqe people who has
rewarded the world with a mysterious gift.
