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Cedid Atlas

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Title Page of the Cedid Atlas (also known as Cedid Atlas Tercümesi)

Cedid Atlas (or Atlas-ı Cedid) is the first published atlas in the Muslim world, printed and published in 1803 in Istanbul, then the capital of the Ottoman Empire[1][2].


Although manuscripts and hand-drawn maps were widely available throughout the Muslim world, due mainly to religious reasons, the 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 geographical knowledge as well as European map-making methods of the day[1].


The Cedid Atlas includes 28 hand-coloured maps of various parts of the world and almost all the maps are actually an adaptation of William Faden's[3] General Atlas. It is preceeded by a (1+79) page-long treatise of geography, "Ucalet-ül Coğrafiye" by Mahmud Raif Efendi[4].


The Cedid Atlas was published in parallel with the developments of the Ottoman Empire'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 Ottoman Empire while trying to replace existing ones with contemporary counterparts from the West. Introduced by the the ruling padishah (the sultan) of the Ottoman Empire, Selim III, the "New-Order" included a series of reforms which mainly modernized and changed the structure of the then existing Ottoman army and changed the administrative structure of the Empire. It was an effort to catch up with technical, military, economic, and administrative achievements of the West against which the Ottoman Empire 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 Western standards, a new understanding and applications of geography of European standards were necessary and the Cedid Atlas was translated and printed for this purpose.


Only 50 copies of this atlas (measuring 54 cm x 36 cm) were printed at the press. A copy was presented to Selim III; several copies were also presented to the high-ranking officials of the Empire, some were reserved for the library of Muhendishane (military school of the time), and the remaining were reserved for sale. However, a fire at the warehouse of the press destroyed an unknown (unaccounted) number of the copies reserved for sale. 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 exist in the world. As such, it's one of the rarest printed atlases of historical value[5][6][7].


Cedid Atlas Tercümesi

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. In a few sources outside Turkey and the Muslim world , the atlas is also referred to as the New Great Atlas[5].



Sources: Articles and Papers


Sources: Books

  1. Türk Bilim ve Matbaacılık Tarihinde Mühendishane, Mühendishane Matbaası ve Kütüphanesi (1776-1826). Beydilli, Kemal. 552 pp., Eren Yayıncılık, İstanbul, 1995.
  2. Mühendishane ve Üsküdar Matbaalarında Basılan Kitapların Listesi ve Bir Katolog. Beydilli, Kemal. 40 pp., Eren Yayıncılık, İstanbul, 1997.
  3. Mahmud Raif Efendi ve Nizâm-ı Cedîd'e Dair Eseri. Beydilli, Kemal & Şahin, İlhan. 245 pp., Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınları, Ankara, 2001.


References