Library of Topkapi Palace Museum, No. H 1824.

Wikipedia: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Piri_reis_world_map_01.jpg

Piri Reis (c. 1480-1554) was a Turkish corsair and captain in the Ottoman Sultan’s navy, with an intimate knowledge of the Mediterranean. He finished a world map in 1513, of which only half survives: that of the western hemisphere. On the map, Pire Reis wrote legends in Turkish Arabic script that state that his depiction of the Atlantic was based on part on a map found on a ship near Valencia, Spain, a map that he claimed was by Columbus. Piri Reis had access to other maps, including ten world maps (mappa mundi) as well as charts, such as four made in Portugal. On the left is a detail showing Brazil from the surviving sheet of Piri Reis’ World Map. [1]

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[1] Abbas Hamdani “Ottoman Response to the Discovery of America and the New Route to India,” Journal of the American Oriental Society,  101;3 (Jul. – Sep., 1981), 323- 330; Svat Soucek , “Piri Reis and Ottoman Discovery of the Great Discoveries” Studia Islamica 79 (1994), 134-135.

 

Gregory McIntosh claims that to the left of that dog-like animal, one can read the words Sano Saneyro, and that this technically qualifies as the first textual reference to Rio de Janeiro, which is, quite fittingly, next to a river.It is likely, however, that this is a mis-translation of janawereh sahej. The word janawereh is clearly visible, and one might surmise that this must indeed be Janeiro. However, where it is written: bu janawereh sahej dulul this is actually more plausibly translated as: “They call this beast sahej.” Thus, this legend cannot be “Sano Saneyro” and janawereh is nothing more than the word “beast.” Possibly the beast referred to is the Lobo Guará, a canid found only in South America and pictured in the map. [2]

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[2] Gregory C. McIntosh, The Piri Reis Map of 1513 (Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2000), 36; Farès el-Dahdah, personal communication, 10/3/19.