Piri Reis map: evidence of an advanced civilization unprecedented on Earth?

Piri Reis is a world map compiled in 1513 from military intelligence of the Ottoman navy and Piri Reis cartographer. The mysterious point is that the map shows a number of areas that have not been discovered by humans at the time of the map as the North Antarctic sea . How can humans then accurately draw the North Pole coast of the North Pole? One hypothesis is that this is the result of the global exploration of an ancient civilization that has never been known.

This map was accidentally discovered in 1929 by the German theologian, Gustav Adolf Deissmann (1866-1937 ). He was commissioned by the Turkish Ministry of Education to create a list of non-Islamic artifacts in the Topkapi palace. In the process, Deissmann discovered an ancient map. Realizing that this might be a unique discovery, Deissmann brought to the Orientalist Paul Kahle, who determined that this was the Piri Reis map.

This finding has attracted a lot of attention, because it seems to have recreated the lost (lost) map of Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) in the sixteenth century, showing that South America is in exact correlation with Africa. Meanwhile, many researchers for many years failed to search for "lost map of Columbus," a map thought to have been painted by Columbus while in the West Indies. Even after reading the discovery of the map Piri Reis, the US Secretary of State, Henry L. Stimson contacted the US Ambassador in Turkey to find a map of Columbus.

Piri Reis map sheet uses many different reference sources. These include ten Arab sources, four Indian maps (from the Portuguese) and a map of Columbus. About a third of the remnant maps show the western coasts of Europe and North Africa and the Brazilian coast with considerable accuracy.

The remnants of the Piri Reis map see the Central and South American coasts (photos).

Currently, Piri Reis maps are located in the library of Topkapi Palace (Istanbul, Turkey), but are not displayed regularly to the public. The image of this map also appears on the reverse side of the 10 million Turkish lira period 1999-2005 and of the new 2005-2009 10 lira banknote. Piri Reis is a map (portolan), represented by four rose compasses (two large and two small) from which radiate the direction. Some analyzes confirm that Piri Reis is a azimuthal map that is equally centered on Cairo. However, an analysis by Steven Dutch in 1998 showed that the map center could be a coordinate near the intersection between the original meridian and the equator.

The Iberian Peninsula and the coast of Africa are accurately represented. In relation to Africa, the Americas, the north coast of South America is also quite standard. But the region that represents North America is hardly the same as its true coastline (it is not surprising that this time, this is an almost undiscovered land). Most notably, the Queen Maud Land region, along with the Northern Antarctic coastline is also shown in the Piri Reis map.

How can humans accurately draw the North Pole of the North Pole? It should be noted that the first set footings to the Antarctic of humans were not earlier than 1820. And the Queen Maud Land coastline did not have any significant exploration before Norwegian expeditions began in 1891. At the time of the map Piri Reis was born - in 1513, the Cape Horn region was still undiscovered and the tour around Ferdinand Magellan could not really sail six years later.

One hypothesis is that this is the result of the global exploration of an ancient civilization that has never been known. This is the idea Charles Hapgood mentioned in the book "The Sea Map of the Ancient Kings" (1966). This book proposes a theory of global exploration of an unknown ancient civilization, based on his analysis of ancient and late medieval maps. This idea was also repeated in Erich von Däniken's "The Car of the Gods" .

Gregory McIntosh, a researcher in cartography history, made more logical comments when analyzing Piri Reis maps. Some of the differences of Piri Reis maps, such as the appearance of the Virgin Islands in two locations, are due to the use of many different maps as sources. Other unreasonable points (such as geographic errors in North America), may stem from confusion with East Asia. In addition, taking into account the accuracy of the Atlantic coast, there are two conspicuous errors. First, it is expressed hundreds of miles north of the correct position. Second, the Drake Passage area completely disappeared and the Antarctic Peninsula was probably caged with the Argentine coast.

Although determining the accuracy of areas in the Pirian Reis map corresponding to the icy Antarctic coast is also a problem. Because the map notes that the area has a warm climate, it is now covered by ice. However, mainstream scholars argue that there is no reason to believe that the map is the product of authentic knowledge of the Antarctic coast.