Author: ABCFacts

The Piri Reis map is a world map compiled in 1513 by the Ottoman admiral and cartographer Piri Reis. Approximately one-third of the map survived; it shows the western coasts of Europe and North Africa and the coast of Brazil with reasonable accuracy.

Found in 1929, the map is a portolan chart with compass roses and a windrose network for navigation. Some speculated that it is an azimuthal equidistant map with the center in Cairo and shows knowledge of spherical trigonometry from the cartographer and South America with the alleged depiction of an ice-free Antarctica. Some argued that the cartographer depicted Antarctica in a time when the ice was not there, and a flying device was used to create the map. What goes against this map is that if the ice would melt the sea level would rise by 50 meters and the shoreline would be different.

The northern coastline of Antarctica is wrong and was created before the Magellan Straight was discovered and most likely the cartographer filled the unknown with a distorted South American shoreline. The Antarctica Shore is 3000 miles north on this map.  And we still don’t know “What’s the Idea Behind Piri Reis map?”.

FURTHER READING AND SUGGESTED VIDEOS:

https://www.diegocuoghi.com/Piri_Reis/PiriReis_eng.htm,

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