Map of Rhodes (1525 CE)

This map was made at a moment when Rhodes had only just become Ottoman. For more than two centuries the island had been held by the Knights of Saint John and used as a fortified Christian base in the eastern Mediterranean; after the Ottoman conquest of 1522, it became something very different: a strategic possession that had to be understood, navigated, and absorbed into imperial control. That context gives Piri Reis’s map particular force. It is not just a coastal chart, but a record of how a newly conquered island entered the Ottoman maritime world.

Rhodes in the Ottoman Mediterranean

Rhodes was one of the most important islands in the Mediterranean during the early 16th century. From 1309 to 1522, it was governed by the Knights of Saint John, or Knights Hospitaller, who transformed it into a major military and naval stronghold. From there they launched campaigns against the Ottoman Empire and other Muslim powers, making the island a persistent source of conflict in the region. In 1522, Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent besieged Rhodes with overwhelming force. After a hard-fought campaign, the knights surrendered, and the island passed into Ottoman hands. Piri Reis’s map, made only a few years later in 1525, reflects that new political reality and the strategic importance Rhodes now held within Ottoman naval thinking.

A Map in the Kitâb-ı Bahriye

The map of Rhodes forms part of Piri Reis’s Kitâb-ı Bahriye (Book of the Sea), one of the great works of early modern Ottoman cartography. As with the other maps in the atlas, its primary purpose was practical: to give sailors a clear understanding of coastlines, harbors, anchorages, and surrounding waters. But in the case of Rhodes, that practical purpose carried political weight as well. The island’s position between the eastern and western Mediterranean made it crucial for the movement of fleets, trade, and communication. To map Rhodes carefully was therefore also to assert control over an important point in the sea.

Cartography, Conquest, and Maritime Power

The map’s significance lies not only in what it shows, but in what it represents. Piri Reis was working in an Ottoman world that increasingly understood geography as a form of power. His coastal charts helped transform maritime space into something readable, usable, and governable. Rhodes appears here as part of that larger imperial framework. The chart records the island’s physical form, but it also reflects the Ottoman Empire’s effort to integrate a recently conquered Christian stronghold into its own strategic and navigational system. In that sense, the map is both a guide for sailors and a visual expression of maritime expansion.

Ottoman Technique and Coastal Detail

The map of Rhodes is approximately 22 x 32 cm (8.7 x 12.6 in.), though exact dimensions vary between manuscripts. It was drawn by hand on paper using ink and colored pigments, in keeping with the conventions of Ottoman manuscript cartography. Coastlines, harbors, and nearby islands are rendered with care, while navigational aids such as compass roses enhance the map’s usefulness at sea. The combination of practical detail and decorative clarity is characteristic of Piri Reis’s work. It reflects an Ottoman preference for maps that were not only functional but also visually refined.

Preservation and Later History

Piri Reis’s Kitâb-ı Bahriye, including the map of Rhodes, circulated in manuscript copies within the Ottoman Empire and was preserved in imperial libraries and scholarly collections. Today, important copies survive in institutions such as the Topkapı Palace Museum in Istanbul, as well as in European libraries and museums. Through those manuscripts, the map remains an important witness to Ottoman navigation, conquest, and the changing political geography of the Mediterranean in the early 16th century.