1. Travelers of the medieval and early modern worlds Venetian merchants
Review
Travelers of the medieval
and early modern worlds
Venetian merchants
Marco Polo

2. Today’s Lecture
Review
Introduction for Response Paper
Growing up in the seventeenth century Istanbul
-education
-career choices
-opportunities and challenges
Evliya Çelebi and his Seyahatname

3. For the Response Papers
How to read primary and secondary sources
-factual information, view points
Historian as a detective, looking for clues, painting a picture
Importance of revision
Katip Çelebi, Evliya Çelebi, Readings for this paper

4. Imagine yourself in the seventeenth century Istanbul
Imagine yourself in the seventeenth century Istanbul. How would your life have been as a twenty year old?

5. Young Greek Woman and Standing Turk, Gentile Bellini, 1479-81

7. Janissary recruits playing musical instruments, from Johannes Lewenklaw’s history,, dating from 1586

8. Seated Scribe, Gentile Bellini, 1479–81

9. Fatih complex

10. Cafer Aga Medresesi, late sixteenth century, view of the courtyard

11. Gazanfer Ağa medresesi. Divân-i Nâdirî.

12. Weekend of the medrese students, Album of Ahmed I, seventeenth century

13. Page from the Seyahatname of Evliya Çelebi

14. Illuminated title page from the Sultan Süleyman’s Divan-ı Muhibbi, transcribed by Mehmed Serif, Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi, R. 738, dating from 1565/66.

15. Ottoman geographers and the far away lands
1520s a merchant named Ali Ekber traveled to China, and after his return produced a detailed account of Chinese administration and customs named as Hitay-name.
In 1554 an Ottoman naval contingent was shipwrecked in India. Its commander Seydi Ali Reis wrote the adventurous tale of his return, Miratü’l-Memalik, giving glimpses of Indian and Central Asian culture.
Mehmed Aşık (d. 1598) from Trabzon compiled a voluminous cosmography from a number of classical sources in Arabic and Persian. For the Ottoman lands he included his own observations during his travels.
Katip Çelebi ( ) wrote his geography Cihannüma using European geographies like Mercator’s Geography, dismissed Ali Ekber’s accounts on China, but used non-literary accounts of merchants. His draft does not contain anything that originates in his own experiences, even though he marched through Anatolia several times on a campaign.