By Anna Xie
This map is named after the Ottoman admiral and cartographer. It was compiled in 1513, 21 years after Christopher Columbus reached the New World. The map contains compass roses and a windrose network instead of line of longitude and latitude. It is written in the Ottoman-Turkish language and drawn on gazelle-skin parchment. However, the map has disappeared for several centuries until it was re-discovered in 1929 is currently kept at the Topkapı Palace Museum.
The New World referred to the lands that are in the Western hemisphere of the Earth known as North and South America. There was little information know about the New World at his time. Reis assembled this map by using and citing 20 different regional maps. It’s also not complete because only a third of his map survived.
He drew pictures for his map, including the rulers of Marekesh and Guinea, indigenous clothing, birds, and landforms. He depicted llamas, oxen, snakes, and parrots in parts of South America. His map has led to some controversies such as the map depicting Antarctica as a not icy place. Portions of North America and the Carribean seem to be inaccurate and even some islands were deleted while a mythical one called Antilla was still there.
Sources: