Özet:

The locations of cities, their social and cultural structures, architecture, economies, history, roads, and distances to other nearby cities are the main subjects of interest to geographers. Kâtib Çelebi, the author of Cihânnümâ [An Ottoman Cosmography], is one of those geographers. In both copies of Cihânnümâ, cities are in the foreground. The first part of the work discusses general geographical information such as the structure of the Earth, its shape, mountains, seas, rivers, lakes, climates (both mathematically and by regional locations), and countries, after which the work describes many cities on different continents through their important features. The work Esâmî-i’l-Aktâr ve’l-Büldân ve’l-Kurâ min Cihannümâ (Beyân-ı Memâlik) is registered under no.1803 in the Murad Molla Section of the Süleymaniye Manuscripts Library and exclusively contains information about cities. One of the most important features of the work, as the name itself suggests, is its relationship with Cihânnümâ. Its author, Es‘ad Efendi, decided to write this work while he was pondering Cihânnümâ. Es‘ad Efendi had classified cities in alphabetical order under the heading Iklîm-i Rûm in the manuscript of the first edition of Cihânnümâ and rewrote them within the framework of certain subjects he had determined. This study comparatively discusses and evaluates the contents and the information given about the cities in the work and compares the two versions of Cihânnümâ and their importance in the literature on Ottoman geography. The end of the study presents the text of the work for researchers working in the field of geography and city history to evaluate.