Rare Maps of Ottoman Empire at Ball State University Libraries

Focus: Turkey
Rare Maps of the Ottoman Empire in Ball State University Libraries

In honor of the Thanksgiving holiday, the Geospatial Resources & Map Collection (GRMC) is featuring an exhibit of rare maps of the Ottoman Empire, which is centered in present-day Turkey.

The GRMC has two rare maps of the Ottoman Empire from 1877. The first is titled The Cross and Crescent—Harper’s Pictorial Map of the Seat of War in the East and was a supplement to Harper’s Weekly magazine in June 1877. Map of the Ottoman Empire, Kingdom of Greece and the Russian Provinces on the Black Sea was an extra supplement in the Illustrated London News on April 21, 1877. Ball State University Libraries is listed in WorldCat as the only library in the world possessing these two unique maps.

Carte Generale L’Empire Ottoman is another map of the Ottoman Empire in the GRMC. This map was created by Dietrich Reimer in 1867 and is mounted on canvas. The glossary on the map is written in Greek, Turkish, Arabic, and Persian. Ball State University Libraries is one of three in the world with this map according to WorldCat.

The GRMC also includes a reproduction of a map of Imperial Turkey from 1737, a map of the conquests of Murad I and Bayezid I, and reproductions of maps of Constantinople from 1493, 1572, and 1635.

Current road and tourist maps of Turkey are also available from the GRMC. Several maps of Turkish cities are in the Collection, including Ankara, Istanbul, and Izmir.

All maps from the GRMC can be circulated for two weeks or longer. For more information about these maps of Turkey or any other maps in the GRMC, please contact Melissa Gentry at 765/285-1097.