Admiral Piri Reis and the most controversial map in history?



Ahmet Muhiddin Piri better known as Piri Reis was a commander of the Ottoman fleet in the 16th century. Also a skilled Cartographer he would become famous for a map he created in 1513, One which was later discovered in Topkapı Palace Library in 1929 by Gustav Adolf Deissmann who recognized its importance.

Piri Reis would state that in order to create this map he referred to some 20 source maps, All which are now lost. He claimed that some of those maps came from the library of Alexandria itself and eventually ended up in Constantinople where he gained access to them.

So why is this so controversial? Because despite showing European, African and American coastlines, It also depicts the coastline of Antarctica as it appears under the ice. The same appears in more detail on the Oronteus Finaeus map of 1531.
So what do you think? Was Piri Reis correct or was he mistaken?

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