A world map drawn in 1513 by Ottoman admiral Piri Reis, controversially claimed to depict the coastline of Antarctica over 300 years before its official discovery.
The Piri Reis Map is a world map drawn on gazelle skin in 1513 by Ottoman admiral Piri Reis. Only the western portion survives, showing the coastlines of Europe, Africa, and South America along the western Atlantic. Discovered in 1929 at Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, its accuracy and content have sparked considerable debate.
According to Piri Reis's own notes, the map was compiled from approximately 20 older maps, including one attributed to Columbus. Some source materials supposedly dated back to the era of the Library of Alexandria.
The landmass depicted at the map's southern edge is the focus of controversy. Some researchers claim it represents the coastline of Antarctica before it was covered by ice. However, mainstream geographers interpret it as a distorted depiction of the southern tip of South America bent eastward, or an imaginary rendering of the hypothetical "Terra Australis" widely believed to exist at the time.
