Evliya Çelebi

Evliya Çelebi 

Born Mar. 25,1611, in Istanbul; died there in 1682 or 1683. Turkish traveler, geographer, and writer.

For approximately 50 years, including time spent on military campaigns, Evliya traveled about many countries in Asia, Africa, and Europe. He visited the Northern Caucasus, the Ukraine, Moldavia, and the Crimea, and he sailed along the Don, Volga, and Iaik (now Ural) rivers. His travel sketches and diaries, which he edited at the end of his life, formed a ten-volume work called the Book of Travels (also known as Chronicle of a Traveler). Part of the work was published for the first time in 1843. Eight volumes were printed in the Arabic alphabet between 1898 and 1928, and the last two volumes were published in the Latin alphabet between 1935 and 1938.

Evliya’s work is the longest memoir in classical Turkish literature. It is an important document of his epoch and contains a large amount of information about history, geography, and culture. It also includes numerous stories and legends from various countries and peoples, including peoples in what is now the USSR.

WORKS

Evliya Çelebi Seyahatnamesi, vols. 1–5. Istanbul, 1943–51.
In Russian translation:
Kniga puteshestviia (Izvlecheniia iz sochineniia turetskogo puteshestvennika XVII v.), fasc. 1: Zemli Moldavii i Ukrainy. Moscow, 1961. (Contains bibliography.)

REFERENCES

Grigor’ev, A. P. “Khudozhestvennye obrazy i sredstva ‘Shakhname’ v ‘Knige puteshestviia’ Evlii Chelebi.” In the collection Voprosy filosofii stran Azii i Afriki, fasc. 2. Leningrad, 1973.
Evliya Çelebi: Hayan, Sanan, Eserleri. Istanbul, 1954.
Necatigil, B. Edebiyatimizda isimler sözlüǧü, 7th ed. Istanbul, 1972.