This map, made by Mahmud Kashgari bin Husayn bin Muhammad, was included in his Divanu Lügat-it-Türk, a scientific work he published in 1072 (AD) for the benefit of the Caliph of Baghdad. It is the first world map of Turkish origin known in history, and is preserved at the General National Library (Millet Genel Kütüphanesi) in Istanbul. It is presented on a stamp issued in 1972, on the occasion of the map’s nine-hundredth birthday.
The map is oriented with the east on top (but is shown here with north on top) and centres on the Turkic areas in Central Asia, which include Kashgar, the birth-place of Kashgari. The map scale is reduced towards the edges of the map. The geographical features are colour-coded thus:
- Blue – rivers
- Green – seas
- Light yellow – deserts
- Red – mountains
- Yellow – cities, countries, lands and peoples
This map was taken from the excellent stamp website mentioned in the previous post, and is overlaid with numbers 1-24 to indicate references to (mostly) real places. Which are:
- Bulgaria (judging by its location, probably the so-called Wolga-Bulgaria rather than present-day Bulgaria)
- Caspian Sea
- ‘Rus’ (Russia)
- Alexandria
- Egypt
- Tashkent
- Japan (surrounded by a green semicircle)
- China (with water to the west)
- Balasagun (now in Kyrgyzstan, then the ‘centre of the world’)
- Kashgar (the map-maker’s birthplace)
- Samarqand
- Iraq
- Azerbaijan
- Yemen
- East Somalia
- East Sahara
- Ethiopia
- North Somalia
- Indus
- Hindustan
- Ceylon (Adam’s Peak or Jebel Serandib, indicated by the red dot on the south of the island, supposedly is where Adam was exiled to after being kicked out of Paradise)
- Kashmir
- Gog and Magog (Biblical/legendary land walled off from the world by a mountain range)
- The World-Encircling Sea
Can I get a print of this map anywhere?
Comment by DK — February 22, 2007 @ 10:36 pm
Apart from printing this image, I don’t know. Except that you might try to contact the museum mentioned in the text (which might be a bit difficult; at first glance, i can’t find a website).
Comment by strangemaps — February 23, 2007 @ 6:06 am
Perhaps the “East on Top” thing deserves some more attention:
In the ancient world, East was always considered the “top” of the world, as is today’s North (with 99% or so of maps pointing upwards to the North). Probably because the magnetic virtues of Earth were yet unknown, and possibly because the “bottom” was the Mediterranean sea (perhaps the Phoenecians started it?) In any event, the up-north connection left its remains in many semitic languages: In Arabic, for example, the same word is used for “left” and “North”. In Hebrew, “forward” is the equivalent of “Eastward”.
Comment by Yuval — February 25, 2007 @ 3:23 pm
@ Yuval:
Interesting stuff, thanks!
Comment by strangemaps — February 25, 2007 @ 3:36 pm
Interesting Blogg! Well done
here is my flickr map of geotagged photos.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/17853411@N00/map/
Comment by atgrims — February 27, 2007 @ 2:11 pm
Wow. Cool.
The library at my university has multiple copies of the Diwan from which this map comes. Sadly, it doesn’t appear in all the versions and translations. I found a good black and white copy of it in the English translation. Almost all of the cities, countries, and other places are named on this version. I also found a copy in a Kazakh translation of the book. That one is a color reproduction of the original. I will scan both copies and put them on my blog later.
Comment by Nathan Hamm — February 28, 2007 @ 9:46 pm
Mahmud Kashgari’s 11th C. Map of Turkic World
Click the picture for a larger version.
The above map appears in Mahmud Kashgar’s late 11th century Diwan Lugat at-Turk. According to the the 1982 Dankoff translation’s introduction, Kashgari was born near Issyk-kul into a family of the Qa…
Trackback by Registan.net — March 1, 2007 @ 5:23 am
@ Nathan/registan.net:
Thanks for your reference and additional information. Interesting blog, by the way.
Comment by strangemaps — March 1, 2007 @ 5:31 am
The map was part of the collection of the great late-Ottoman book lover, collector, and librarian Ali Emiri Effendi (1854-1924). The map — together with examples of royal Ottoman firmans and berats and books and manuscripts in Arabic, all from Ali Emiri’s collection — is currently on display at the Pera Museum in Istanbul.
Comment by Stephen Lewis — March 5, 2007 @ 8:14 am
translations arabic
I Googled for something completely different, but found your page…and have to say thanks. nice read.
Trackback by translations arabic — April 3, 2007 @ 10:14 pm
Is it strange that it’s round? I mean, did they know that the earth was a sphere back then?
Comment by Kah — April 4, 2007 @ 1:53 pm
I don’t see this ancient map: I ask from you, give a LINK from this!!!!
(I’M macar (onogur, karahun)/
Comment by Kursán Kündü — May 7, 2007 @ 6:49 pm
YES. OK: i see just now! I try the download. Very interest, too interest. Come back, not too long time after…
Comment by Kursán Kündü — May 7, 2007 @ 6:52 pm
THE FORM: like the TENGRI, the sky, ever sky, or the world, the “KEREK VILAG” in macar, “the whole world”
, pagan mistique effect, I’m sure, not total Islam …..
Comment by Kursán Kündü — May 7, 2007 @ 6:57 pm
Me and My
news
Trackback by Me and My — June 12, 2007 @ 12:03 am
Meja
news
Trackback by Meja — June 12, 2007 @ 12:04 am
Thank you for posting this map. I was looking for maps which try to take a guess at the gog/magog location. Obviously its not accurate but anyways.
@Yuval: If people back then didn’t know about compass then how were they able to point correctly to east or north or whatever direction they were point towards?
Comment by Huda — September 25, 2007 @ 7:23 pm
this map türkish world.türkic live place and türkic enemy existent.DİVANI LÜGATÜ TÜRK WRİTER KAŞGARLI MAHMUT ONE TÜRKİSH PEOPLE.THİS MAP ENEMY RUSSİA,FARS,CHİNA
Comment by türkish — April 16, 2008 @ 8:20 am
Hi, nice to have first time on googel web site. Please can provide with names on map which we can understand.
Comment by praanthi — January 5, 2009 @ 7:40 am
[...] by admin on Feb.16, 2009, under Tarih Dünyanın çeşitli yerlerinde, çeşitli zamanlarda tasarlanmış “Turcicum Imperium” (Türk İmparatorluğu) başlıklı haritalar. The First Turkish World Map, by Kashgari (1072) [...]
Pingback by Turcicum Imperium - Mehmet Kirazoglu — February 16, 2009 @ 7:36 pm
thanks alot
Comment by Tony — May 4, 2009 @ 2:32 am
thanks for this map.
good
luck
Comment by Solomon — May 11, 2009 @ 7:17 am
merci
Comment by aspicco . — May 17, 2009 @ 5:09 am
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Pingback by 81 The First Turkish World Map by Kashgari 1072 Strange Maps | Outdoor Ceiling Fans — May 31, 2009 @ 9:42 am
teşekkür ederim
Comment by yory — June 12, 2009 @ 8:45 pm
Vielen Dank
Comment by moon — July 3, 2009 @ 3:59 am
Muchas gracias
Comment by sun — July 4, 2009 @ 6:48 am