Evliya Çelebi's "Book of Travels" in the Topkapi Palace Museum Library and the Süleymaniye Manuscript Library

Evliya Çelebi's Seyahatname or "Book of Travels" is the longest and fullest travel account in Islamic literature-perhaps in world literature. It is a vast panorama, both an extensive description of the Ottoman Empire and its hinterlands, and an account of the author's peregrinations over roughly forty years (1640-80). It provides an insight into Ottoman perceptions of the world, not only in obvious areas like geography, topography, administration, urban institutions, and social and economic systems, but also in such domains as religion, folklore, dream interpretation, and conceptions of self.  Read more on the UNESCO Memory of the World website.