''Cedid Atlas'' () was the first modern

atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

produced in the

Muslim world The terms Islamic world and Muslim world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs, politics, and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is ...

, printed and published in 1803 in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. The atlas was created by translating and adapting maps from

William Faden William Faden (1749–1836) was an English cartographer and a publisher of maps. He was the royal geographer to King George III. He replaced Thomas Jefferys in that role. The title of "geographer to the king" was given to various people in ...

's ''General Atlas'' and the full title of the atlas reads as ''Cedid Atlas Tercümesi'' (meaning, literally, ''"A Translation of a New Atlas"'') and in most libraries outside

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, it is recorded and referenced accordingly. Although manuscripts and hand-drawn maps were widely available, the ''Cedid Atlas'' could only be published in 1803 by Müderris Abdurrahman Efendi in a style based on European sources.

History

The ''Cedid Atlas'' is the first modern

in the

, printed and published in 1803 in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, then the capital of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

.First Printed Atlas in the Muslim World
The full title name of the atlas reads as ''Cedid Atlas Tercümesi'' (meaning, literally, ''"A Translation of a New Atlas"'') and in most libraries outside Turkey, it is recorded and referenced accordingly. Although manuscripts and hand-drawn maps were widely available throughout the

, the massive printing of books started only in 1729 by Ibrahim Muteferrika and the ''Cedid Atlas'' could only be published in 1803 by Müderris Abdurrahman Efendi in a style based on European sources. The ''Cedid Atlas'' includes a monochrome celestial chart and 24 hand-coloured copper engraved maps Beydilli(1995) of various parts of the world; the celestial chart and maps measure at least (53 cm by 72 cm) and all the maps are actually adaptations of

's ''General Atlas''. The maps are preceded by a (1+79) page-long treatise of geography, "Ucalet-ül Coğrafiye" by Mahmud Raif Efendi and a

title page The title page of a book, thesis or other written work is the page at or near the front which displays its title (publishing), title, subtitle, author, publisher, and edition, often artistically decorated. (A half title, by contrast, displays onl ...

. The "Ucalet-ül Coğrafiye" of Mahmud Raif Efendi was printed one year later, in 1804, and bound together with the atlas.Ottoman Statesmen: Mahmud Raif Efendi
From a point of view of art, the atlas is notable for the color of the maps as well as the beauty of the script on the maps. The ''Cedid Atlas'' was published in parallel with the developments of the

's Nizam-ı Cedid, the "New-Order" or the "New System" ("Cedid" means "new" and "Nizam" means "system", "regime", or "order") and its title-name reflects this clearly. The atlas was new in terms of cartographical knowledge and well suited to the new system which tried to introduce new institutions into the

while trying to replace existing ones with contemporary counterparts from the

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

. Introduced by the ruling

padishah Padishah (; ) is a superlative sovereign title of Persian origin. A form of the word is known already from Middle Persian (or Pahlavi) as ''pātaxšā(h)'' or ''pādixšā(y)''. Middle Persian ''pād'' may stem from Avestan ''paiti'', and is ...

(the

sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...

) of the

Selim III Selim III (; ; was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1789 to 1807. Regarded as an enlightened ruler, he was eventually deposed and imprisoned by the Janissaries, who placed his cousin Mustafa on the throne as Mustafa IV (). A group of a ...

, the "New-Order" included a series of reforms which mainly modernized and changed the structure of the then existing

Ottoman army The Military of the Ottoman Empire () was the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire. It was founded in 1299 and dissolved in 1922. Army The Military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers the years ...

and changed the administrative structure of the Empire. It was an effort to catch up with technical, military, economic, and administrative achievements of the

against which the

was losing grounds since the 17th century. New military and engineering schools were established and governmental units related with the foreign relations and affairs were re-organized to align with the new system. For these schools, governmental units, and the wholly re-organized army reformed according to the European practice, a new understanding and applications of geography of the standards of the West were necessary and the ''Cedid Atlas'' was translated and printed for this purpose. Only 50 copies of this atlas (measuring 36 cm x 53 cm) were printed at the press. A copy was presented to

; several copies were also presented to the high-ranking officials of the Empire, some were reserved for the library of Muhendishane (military engineering school of the time), and the remaining were reserved for sale. However, during the "Alemdar Vakası", an uprising of the

janissaries A janissary (, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops. They were the first modern standing army, and perhaps the first infantry force in the world to be equipped with firearms, adopted du ...

in Constantinople during November 15–18, 1808,Kinross(1977), pp 431-434. a fire at the warehouse of the press destroyed an unknown (unaccounted) number of the copies reserved for sale.Municipality of Usküdar-Istanbul
Based on several estimates and accounting for the single maps (torn-out from bound volumes of the atlas) sold or being sold worldwide, it is believed that a maximum of 20 complete examples could be present in libraries or in private collections whereas some sources suggest that there exist only 10 complete and intact copies in the world.
As such, it's one of the rarest printed atlases of historical value.

Other names

A few sources outside

and the

also refer to this atlas as the ''New Great Atlas''. In Turkey, since the printing press of the book was located in the historical

Üsküdar Üsküdar () is a municipality and district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 35 km2, and its population is 524,452 (2022). It is a large and densely populated district on the Anatolian (Asian) shore of the Bosphorus. It is border ...

(Scutari) region (now a municipality) of

, the atlas sometimes is referred to as the ''Üsküdar Atlası''.

Existing copies

These are the only 12 complete copies known to exist in the world: # Turkey - Topkapı Sarayı (

Topkapı Palace The Topkapı Palace (; ), or the Seraglio, is a large museum and library in the east of the Fatih List of districts of Istanbul, district of Istanbul in Turkey. From the 1460s to the completion of Dolmabahçe Palace in 1856, it served as the ad ...

) - 1 copy - Complete # Turkey - Library of the

Istanbul Technical University Istanbul Technical University, also known as Technical University of Istanbul (, commonly referred to as İTÜ), is an public university, public technical university located in Istanbul, Turkey. It is the world's third-oldest technical university ...

(İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, formerly known as ""Engineering School (Mühendislik Mektebi")) - 2 copies - Complete (''presence of copies are not confirmed'') # Turkey - Library of the

Boğaziçi University Boğaziçi University (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Boğaziçi Üniversitesi''), also known as Bosphorus University, is a Public university, public research university in Istanbul, Turkey, historically tied to a former American educational insti ...

(Boğaziçi Üniversitesi, formerly known as Robert College) - 3 copies - Complete (''presence of only 1 copy is confirmed'') # Turkey - Municipality of

(Üsküdar Belediyesi) - 1 copy - Complete # United States -

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

- 1 copy - Complete # United States -

Princeton University Library Princeton University Library is the main library system of Princeton University. With holdings of more than 7 million books, 6 million microforms, and 48,000 linear feet of manuscripts, it is among the largest libraries in the world by number of ...

- 1 copy - Complete # Netherlands -

Leiden University Library Leiden University Libraries is the set of libraries of Leiden University, founded in 1575 in Leiden, Netherlands. A later edition entitled ''The bastion of liberty : a history of Leiden University'', was published in 2018. Full-text at archive ...

- 1 copy - Complete # United Arab Emirates - Antiquarian bookseller
Eqtna for Rare Books
The copy was displayed for sale at th
Sharjah Book Fair 2016
- 1 copy - Complete # Swann Auction Galleries, New York - 1 complete copy sold on 26 May 2016. (Contrary to sources, on-line library search at the library of

shows only 1 copy according to the records, and an on-line search at the library of the

shows no copies according to records.

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...

union catalogue search of all the libraries confirms this result. Accordingly, there are only 10 complete and intact copies confirmed to exist in the world.) These are the incomplete copies known to exist in the world: # United States - John Carter Brown Library (

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

) - 1 copy (missing 2 maps) # United States -

Newberry Library The Newberry Library is an independent research library, specializing in the humanities. It is located in Chicago, Illinois, and has been free and open to the public since 1887. The Newberry's mission is to foster a deeper understanding of our wo ...

- 1 copy (missing 1 map and also 1 available map is from another copy) # Turkey - Yapı Kredi Sermet Çifter Araştırma Kütüphanesi - 1 copy (missing several maps) # Turkey - Bursa İnebey Kütüphanesi - 1 copy (missing several maps) # Norway - Nasjonalbiblioteket ( National Library of Norway) - 1 copy (missing 2 maps) # Sweden - Kungliga Biblioteket (Royal Library of Sweden) - 1 copy (missing the title page) # Austria - Antikvariat InLibris, Vienna - 1 copy (Missing the celestial chart). # United Kingdom -

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...

- 1 copy (missing celestial map only) The following libraries possess very limited portions of the atlas : #

Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

owns the initial (1+79) page-long geographical treatise "Ucalet-ül Coğrafiye" and one map only, title page and the remaining maps of the atlas are missing. #

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

owns only two maps of the atlas with all the rest missing. Occasionally, single maps of the Cedid Atlas are presented for sale by on-line book sellers or auctioneers.

Maps in the ''Cedid Atlas''

In addition to the (53 cm x 72 cm) monochrome celestial map, there are 24 coloured maps in the atlas; some of them are larger than (53 cm x 72 cm). In order of appearance, these maps show: # Eastern Hemisphere and Western Hemisphere # South Pole and North Pole # The World # Europe (including Iceland) # Anatolia, Black Sea, Aegean Sea, Balkan Peninsula, (heel of) Italy, Iraq/Syria/Lebanon/Jordan/Palestine/Cyprus/Crete (in the south) # Adriatic Coast, Italy, Southern France, Iberian Peninsula, Libya/Tunis/Algeria (in the south) # Anatolia (the) Black Sea, Crimea, Southern Ukraine, (north of) Balkan Peninsula to Hungary # Western Anatolia, Aegean Sea, Crete (in the south), Greece # England (and Wales) # Scotland and Scottish Islands # The Low Countries : Hanau, Luxembourg, Brabant, Flanders, Northern France # France (at the time of the monarchy) # The English Channel and the Channel Islands, Western France Coast # France (at the time of the republic) # Germany (from Brandenburg to Braunschweig) # Poland, Prussia, Lithuania (to the north) # Continent of Asia # Azerbaijan, Armenia, Western Iran, Iraq/Syria/Lebanon/Jordan/Palestine/Cyprus (in the south), Anatolia, Kurdistan, Al Jazzira # Continent of Africa # River Nile in Egypt in detail (including the Nile Delta) # Continents of America (North, Central, South) and (part of) Pacific Ocean # Eastern North America # Central/South America (Guyana) Coast # The Lesser Antilles (including) Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Tobago

Paper analysis

Examination of the watermarks lead some

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

professors believe that the paper is of Russian origin, but John Delaney, the historical maps

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

for the

, believes it is possibly from

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, Italy.

Gallery

Articles and papers

University of Chicago - European Cartographers and the Ottoman World (1500-1750)

Jerusalem Quarterly - Shifting Ottoman Conceptions of Palestine : Ethnography and Cartography

İstanbul Üniversitesi Dergisi - Article in Turkish by Cengiz Orhonlu

İstanbul Üniversitesi Dergisi - Article in Turkish by Deniz Ekinci

Books

* ''The Ottoman Centuries: The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire''. Kinross, Patrick. Perennial, London, 1977. * ''İmparatorluğun En Uzun Yüzyılı''. Ortaylı, İlber. Hil Yayinları, İstanbul, 1983. * ''Military, Administrative, and Scholarly Maps and Plans''. Karamustafa, Ahmet T. In ''"The History of Cartography, Vol. 2, Book 1: Cartography in the Traditional Islamic and South Asian Societies, edited by J. B. Harley and David Woodward, pp. 209–28"'',

University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the university press of the University of Chicago, a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It pu ...

, Chicago, 1992. * ''Türk Bilim ve Matbaacılık Tarihinde Mühendishane, Mühendishane Matbaası ve Kütüphanesi (1776-1826)''. Beydilli, Kemal. Eren Yayıncılık, İstanbul, 1995. * ''Mühendishane ve Üsküdar Matbaalarında Basılan Kitapların Listesi ve Bir Katolog''. Beydilli, Kemal. Eren Yayıncılık, İstanbul, 1997. * ''History of the Ottoman Empire, Volume 2''. Shaw, S.J. and Shaw, E.Z.,

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, Cambridge, 1997. * ''Mahmud Raif Efendi ve Nizâm-ı Cedîd'e Dair Eseri''. Beydilli, Kemal & Şahin, İlhan. Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınları, Ankara, 2001.

References

External links

Princeton University Library - ''Cedid Atlas Tercümesi''

* ttps://www.loc.gov/rr/amed/guide/nes-turkey.html Library of Congress - Near East Collections - ''Cedid Atlas''
Library of Congress - "New Order" Artifacts - ''Cedid Atlas Tercümesi''

* ttp://www.sochistdisc.org/news_letter_May_2002/terra-cognita_7.htm Terra Cognita - Newsletter of the Society for the History of Discoveries - ''Cedid Atlas'' at the Newberry Library
Turkish Incunabula in the Sweden Royal Library

Leiden University Library - ''Cedid Atlas Tercemesi''

Copy of "Ucalet-ül Coğrafiye" at Bibliothèque Nationale de France

Map From ''Cedid Atlas'' at Bibliothèque Nationale de France

National Library of Australia - Maps From ''Cedid Atlas''

To View All Pages of "Ucalet-ül Coğrafiye", Title Page, Celestial Map and all 24 Coloured Maps of ''Cedid Atlas'' at the Library of Congress Website

* ttp://www.ykykultur.com.tr/sermet/ Turkey : Yapı Kredi Sermet Çifter Araştırma Kütüphanesi Incomplete ''Cedid Atlas'' Copy
History and Maps - Blog in Spanish and English
{{Authority control 1803 non-fiction books Atlases Incunabula Ottoman literature Maps of Palestine (region)