The Piri Reis Map

The Piri Reis Map

What is the Piri Reis Map?

The Piri Reis Map is a map of the whole world that was created in the year 1513 and encompasses a great mystery within it. The map is drawn on a gazelle skin parchment and is roughly 35 by 24 inches in size. It is one of the most interesting and important maps from its time due to the extent of the world shown and its use and display of things beyond its time. While the map is in decent condition, sadly, what we have today seems to only be approximately one-third of the original and nobody knows where the rest is.

The map was found in Istanbul, Turkey by a theologian named Gustav Deissmann who was in the process of cataloging the contents of Istanbul’s Topaki Palace Library. During this, he and the palace director found many bundles of maps and charts hidden within unrelated documents. They went through all the documents and discovered a map that seemed important to them at first glance. After verification by an expert, they discovered that it was the Piri Reis map which was created by an Ottoman-Turkish admiral and cartographer Ahmed Muhiddin Piri, better known as Piri Reis. According to an inscription on the map, Piri created it by referencing about twenty charts and related maps. The map was very popular because, In 1517, Piri presented it to the Ottoman Sultan Selim I, who at that time believed it to be one of the most complete maps in the world due to it being based on so many other charts. As of today, The Piri Reis map is in the Library of the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul, Turkey, but is not usually on public display.

Now, on to the real mystery surrounding the map as well as the reason for the high rarity of it. The map shows a large landmass which seems to be Antarctica but without any ice capping. This is very mysterious for two reasons. first of all, Antarctica wasn't discovered until 200-300 years after the formation of this map and even if it was, it would definitely be ice-capped at the time. Not only was there the issue of Antarctica existing without its ice cap, but it was also noticed that the map was drawn using the Mercator Projection which is a methodology that European cartographers began to use in the late 16th century. Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator devised the cylindrical map projection in 1569 making it baffling to be seen in a map from 1513. 

While those cover the mystery of it, the historical importance of this map is due to the maps it was made from. As Piri stated, he had used ten Arab sources and four Indian maps sourced from the Portuguese along with other charts but one map, in particular, makes this a very rare and important artifact. According to many claims, the Piri Reis map includes a copy of a very important chart made by Christopher Columbus which has been lost. This chart is said to be the oldest map of the Americas, as well as the most accurate map made in the sixteenth century making the Piri Reis map which is supposedly based on it, very important as well.

All of these things have led to theorists assuming many things to fill the gaps in the creation of this map. Many believe that this map is proof that its mapmaker, Piri Reis, was able spherical trigonometry calculations and that an ancient seafaring civilization existed many years ago and was somehow able to exist discreetly. Along with this, there are also many other theories which I have discussed below

Theories

1. Extraterrestrial Theory

This theory is quite popular when it comes to conspiracy theorists and states that some sort of alien beings came to earth to provide the technology and knowledge required to make such a map. Unlike in most mysteries, this theory doesn't feel as misplaced here as it does provide a possible explanation to the impossibility of this mystery albeit still being very far fetched. An alien civilization if somehow were to provide help to humans for some reasons would allow a method for people to discover that Antarctica exists as well as finding its proper location back in the 1500s. It would also provide a means of the accuracy and detail of some parts of the map as well as an explanation for the use of the Mercator projection method as being some sort of similar alien technology. The only place where this theory lacks is in explaining why Antarctica is shown without an ice cap and also just the possibility of aliens helping humans discreetly for map-making seems slim.

2. Unknown Expeditions or Greater Knowledge Theory

These 2 less popular theories are quite similar and state that there were some unknown expeditions or secret knowledge that Piri Reis possessed. This theory would also prove the finding of Antarctica through some unrecorded expedition to which the knowledge somehow reached Piri. His being some sort of prodigy with greater knowledge would also be able to prove the use of the Mercator projection method but this theory overall lacks evidence as well as believability. Hiding such an expedition and Piri Reis being such a prodigy with nobody knowing about it both seem very unlikely and have nothing to back their legitimacy.

3. Not Antarctica Theory

This theory is the most scientifically believed as it doesn't involve anything far fetched or unknown. According to this theory, the landmass is actually an altered representation of South America which has been mistaken to be Antarctica. People believe that due to the lack of knowledge at that time, Piri must have mistaken the size of the landmass to be much larger than it actually is as well as distorted its location. This would explain what the landmass is as well as why it is shown to be green land and not ice-capped. The only problem with this theory is that it still doesn't explain the use of the Mercator projection method years before its proper use and invention.

Conclusion

This theory is quite interesting to me personally as I love historical mysteries like this but I feel like there is a simple explanation to this. The initial theory about extraterrestrials is just too far fetched for me personally and I don't think that its the truth to this mystery. The second theory as well seems hard to believe except for the fact the Piri was a prodigy. While the rest of the theory isn't likely, I do believe that Piri reis must have been some sort of prodigy to have been able to create such a map but this still wouldn't solve the existence of Antarctica. Well for that, I believe the third theory explains it best and that the landmass we see in the map is actually so large by mistake and is actually just a very distorted representation of the South American coast that we have mistaken to be Antarctica. This explanation would still leave some loopholes but that's the best I could get with the knowledge I have so far.

(This article is mainly based on the mystery related to the map and thus, only provides a somewhat detailed review of the actual map and its contents)

Thanks a lot for taking out the time to read my post and I hope you enjoyed it! For any future post suggestions or comments please feel free to contact me on any of our social media pages or leave a comment below!