Reis, a Turkish admiral in the sixteenth century, was credited
as the most brilliant cartographer of his time. While he was
most certainly an extremely competent cartographer, it was his
passion for collecting old navigational maps that fueled his
insights placing him in possession of some of the most curious
ancient charts and maps ever imagined. primary sources for these
antiquities must have been in the bazaars of exotic ports and
possibly from captured enemy ships. In 1513, Admiral Piri Reis
compiled the first World Map using information from his
collection of ancient charts. While the actual source of the
remarkably detailed geographic information is still in question,
it was this map (presented to Sultan Selim I in 1517) and a
subsequent World Map that served as the catalyst for his fame.
the 1500’s, his maps were considered to be extraordinary, and
now more than 487 years later, the only known surviving piece of
the map continues to amaze and startle scholars and scientists
with the information it cont