An Elegant View of the World From Istanbul - 1803

[HoHey]

By Alex Q. Arbuckle

The Cedid Atlas Tercümesi, or New Atlas, was published in Istanbul in 1803 by the Ottoman Military Engineering School Press — the first atlas to be printed in the Muslim world.

The atlas, intended to provide military students and officials with modern geographic information, was produced as part of the “New Order” of Sultan Selim III. The atlas was part of an effort to incorporate Western military and technological advances into Ottoman society.

Consisting of a treatise on geography, a celestial chart and 24 maps of the world, from Turkey and the Mediterranean to the brand-new United States, the atlas was based on the works of English cartographer William Faden and his General Atlas.

Only 50 copies of the atlas were printed, many of which were destroyed in a fire in 1808. Less than a dozen complete copies of the atlas survive today, making it one of the rarest printed atlases in the world.



Eastern North America, with Spanish, American and French territories colored.
Image: Library of Congress




The Western Hemisphere.



The Eastern Hemisphere.
Image: Library of Congress




A view from the North Pole.
Image: Library of Congress

[HoHey]

A view from the South Pole, sans Antarctica.
Image: Library of Congress



Europe.
Image: Library of Congress



Greece, Turkey and the Levant.
Image: Library of Congress



The western Mediterranean.
Image: Library of Congress



Southern Europe and Turkey.
Image: Library of Congress



Greece, western Anatolia and the Aegean Sea.
Image: Library of Congress

[HoHey]

Belgium and Luxembourg.
Image: Library of Congress



France at the time of the monarchy.
Image: Library of Congress




France at the time of the republic. Image: Library of Congress



Lithuania and Prussia.
Image: Library of Congress

[HoHey]

Asia.
Image: Library of Congress



Turkey and Asia Minor.
Image: Library of Congress




Africa.
Image: Library of Congress




The Western Hemisphere.
Image: Library of Congress




The coast of Guyana.
Image: Library of Congress

[HoHey]

England.
Image: Library of Congress




Scotland.
Image: Library of Congress




Coastal France and the Channel Islands.
Image: Library of Congress




Germany.
Image: Library of Congress




Egypt.
Image: Library of Congress

[HoHey]

The West Indies.
Image: Library of Congress








Image: Library of Congress