Abstract
No authentic map of Columbus was known until Prof. P. Kahle in 1929 found among a number of old charts in the Seraglio at Istanbul a coloured Turkish map of the Atlantic with its islands and coasts. One of the several legends on the map shows it to be the work of Piri Reis in 1513. Piri Reis is known as the writer of an important work on the Mediterranean published in 1521. Prof. Kahle has prepared an account of this map, with a reproduction (Geog. Rev., October 1933). It is clearly only the western part of an original world map. On the extant part, there is a list of sources which includes reference to a map drawn by Columbus. Prof. Kahle adduces evidence in favour of this map having been drawn by Columbus during the earlier part of his third voyage, since it incorporates his discoveries up to that time but not his later experiences on the third voyage or discoveries on the fourth voyage. It is known that during his third voyage Columbus sent to Spain the only map of his about the existence of which there is no doubt. It was evidently a copy of this map, of which several are known to have been made, which fell into the hands of Piri Reis in 1501. It is noteworthy that the list of sources on the map contains no reference to the reputed map and letters of Toscanelli.
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Map of Columbus. Nature 132, 852 (1933). https://doi.org/10.1038/132852c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/132852c0