The Piri Reis Map

If you try and search the Internet using "Piri Reis Map" as keywords, you will come across many websites dedicated to "mysteries", which allege that this map, dated "Year 919 in Muslim Calender", contains a precise representation of the coasts of Antarctica, a continent unknown at that time. According to Charles Hapgood, author of "Maps of the Ancient Sea King: Evidence of Advanced Civilization in the Ice Age", those maps contain a precise representation of Antarctica as it was before last ice age.

According to many mystery enthusiasts, the map was either based on ancient representations, perhaps dating as far as the mythical Atlantis, or were drawn from pictures taken from sky. That because the knowledge available as of 16th century cannot explain such stunning correspondence with reality.

Both Hapgood and Hancock claim that the representation of the Antarctic continent is incredibly precise. And since it clearly indicates rivers, lakes and mountains, this ancient cartographic model could date as back as 15,000 years ago. They also suggest that the map was drawn basing on surveys, which must have been taken from a satellite in a geostationary orbit over Egypt.

What is known today as the map of Turkish admiral Piri Reis is actually just a fragment of the original, much larger map, which represented the whole known world. This surviving represents Atlantic Ocean, western coasts of Europe and Africa, and eastern coasts of America. It is dated "Muslim Year 919". According to its author, the map was compiled from "twenty older charts and eight planispheres". It is very likely that Reis also examined the journey accounts written by early explorers of Hasan Fehmi and publishes by Yusuf Akcura, President of the Society for Turkish Historical Research, in 1935 in his work "Piri Reis Haritasi", and then re-published by Ayse Afitinan in "The oldest map of America" in 1954. It is worth nothing that, although this and other maps abound with clear and perfectly readable text and captions, the authors who present them as proof of their extravagant these quotes nothing but few lines. Yhe only region of South America to look sufficiently detailed on the map is the coast of Brazil, although the river of Amazon is drwan twice, in different locations.

Piri Reis himself states, in a note, that he consulted the charts of Christopher Columbus. The peculiar configuration of the Caribbean area in his map seem to confirm that statement. That region of the American continent is indeed improperly represented: it features a large island arranged north-south which cannot be identified with Cuba, not even by rotating the whole map counterclockwise by 90 degrees.

But what mystery lovers are most enthusiast about is the bottom edge of the map, which is said to represent Antarctica. Some claim that Land of Queen Maud and other features Antarctica are clearly recognizable on the map, even though that continent was not explored but many centuries later. Unfortunately these people, including Hancock, claim the hypothesis without making any cartographic comparison or first-hand check: they just accept Charles Hapgood's statements as true.