Reviews on Evliya Chelebi's Reports of Iran

Evliya Chelebi (1611-1682), was an ethnically Ottoman explorer who travelled through the territory of the Ottoman Empire and neighboring lands over a period of forty years, recording his commentary in a travelogue called the Seyahatname. During his lifetime, Evliya Chelebi made three journeys to Safavid Iran: the first in 1646 to Azerbaijan and Caucasus, the second in 1647 which was a very short one, and the third in 1655 to Azerbaijan and western and central parts of Iran. During all his travels he explored Iran as an official who had been sent by the Ottoman government to fulfill his mission and duties. During the years of Chelebi’s travels to the Safavid Empire, the hostile relationship between the two countries had turned amicable following the Treaty of Zuhab signed in 1639. Throughout these years, the two Empires sent various delegations to the states of one another to settle the territorial disputes and resolve the problems in the provisions of the Treaty. Notwithstanding the duties he had to run as an official agent who travelled to Iran, Evliya Chelebi used to write some notes of his observations and the stories he heard about different places and people he encountered. Reading his collection of notes and commentaries, one can have a better understanding of the cultural and political atmosphere dominant in the Safavid and Ottoman Empires. His travelogue also gives us a pattern of the way the Ottomans viewed the Persian society and the politics of the late Safavid era, particularly during the reign of Shah Safi and Shah Abbas II. The notes of Chelebi’s explorations together with the plethora of information he provides on the political and administrative situations of the Safavid period is very beneficial to finding out more about and rebuilding the historical and cultural geographies of Persia during this period. This paper aims to rebuild the map on which Evliya Chelebi moved around in the Persian territory based on the descriptions he has provided of the routes, towns and cities, then it goes on to analyze Chelebi's viewpoints in the context of Safavid-Ottoman ties.