The Organisation and Religion to Re-unite All Religions

 

THE PIRI RE'IS MAP

 

In 1929 workers renovating the Topkapi Palace in Turkey found a dusty and torn old map.  Printed on gazelle skin this map was made in 1513 by a Turkish Admiral named Piri Re'is, which gave this chart its name.

Cartographers and historians were amazed and a bit baffled by an inscription which was present on this chart, which explains that it was partly based upon a map drawn by Christopher Columbus.  There was speculation that this the Piri Re'is map was a link to the long lost map of Columbus, a chart he was supposed to have drawn of the West Indies.

Important mysteries surrounded the map like how it placed Africa and South America at virtually the correct longitudes two centuries before the chronometer was invented.

In 1956 an archaeologist by the name of Arlington Mallery studied the Piri Re'is map and claimed that what seemed to be the southern portion of South America which is depicted on the map as Archipelago was in fact the bays and islands of Antarctica's northern coast.  (Antarctica though was thought to be unknown till around the 1820's).  This suggests that if Mallery was right someone in the sixteenth century new Antarctica's northern lineaments, and depending on the source of the Piri Re'is map maybe even earlier.  This is quite intriguing as the map appears to include altitudes of mountains which are now under glaciers, and geologists believe that Antarctica has been under the ice for two million years or so.

In 1949 a topographical map was made of Antarctica using seismological equipment, and these readings only enhance the claim that the Piri Re'is map was drawn up by an ancient cartographer who was able to map part of this continent when it was free from ice.  There is speculation by some seismologists and geologists that between 6,000 and 9,000 years ago global warming may have melted some of the ice around Antarctica's western point, which is the area the Piri Re'is map allegedly shows.

Charles Hapgood a cartographer and historian at Keene Teachers College in New Hampshire spent seven years studying Mallery's work on the Piri Re'is map and believes many of the geographical features are a close match.

In his book Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings printed in 1966 he wrote that the old maps were "the first hard evidence that advanced peoples preceded all the peoples now known to history". Hapgood also says "unbelievable as it may appear, the evidence nevertheless indicates that some ancient people explored the coasts of Antarctica when its coasts were free of ice".

Many experts claim Hapgood's theory is extravagant and also dismiss Mallery's work, but this does not stop the mystery surrounding the Piri Re'is map.

It should still be properly investigated by historians and archaeologists.

 

Sources and Credits:
Author: Robert Worrall
Times Newspapers.
Unexplained Magazine.
Feats and Wisdoms of the Ancients - Library of Unusual and Curious Facts - Time Life Books.