Maps of Istanbul and Turkey Available from Ball State University Libraries

Maps in the News:  Istanbul, Turkey

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) includes a large and unique collection of maps from Istanbul and Turkey.  The collection includes topographic, tourist, and pictorial maps published in English, Turkish, French, German, and Italian.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has published several maps of Turkey, the Aegean Sea region, and the Greater Middle East available in the GRMC.  The CIA also published maps of the provinces of Turkey and relief maps.  Modern maps from the CIA are available from the Digital Media Repository in the Maps of the World collection for use in research and learning.

Current and historical tourist and topographic maps of Turkish cities are also available in the GRMC, including maps of Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir.  Lonely Planet has published folded tourist maps of Istanbul and pictorial maps showing building locations in Istanbul, Izmir, and Ankara are also available. 

Nautical charts of Turkey in the GRMC include the areas along the coasts.  These charts provide details of the harbor cities and can be useful mapping resources.

The GRMC also has a set of historic topographic maps of Turkey published by the War Office of Great Britain.  Special strategic maps published of modern Turkey by the Army Map Service during World War II are also available from the GRMC.

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.  

Carte Generale L’Empire Ottoman is another map of the Ottoman Empire available from 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.  These three historic maps of what is now Turkey are available in the Digital Media Repository in the International HistoricMaps Collection. 

The GRMC also includes a reproduction of a map of Imperial Turkey from 1737 and a map of the conquests of Murad I and Bayezid I, and a bird’s-eye-view of Contantinople from 1493, 1572, and 1635.

The Atlas Collection on the second floor of Bracken Library includes a set of atlases of Turkey.  Road and travel atlases for Istanbul are also available.

Maps from the GRMC circulate for two weeks or longer.  Atlases circulate for 28 days or longer. 

For more information about these maps, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.