Tunuslu Hacı Ahmed

Tunuslu Hacı Ahmed or Hajji Ahmed was a purported Ottoman cartographer linked to a 16th-century map of the world. Hacı Ahmet appended a commentary to the map, outlining his own life and an explanation for the creation of the map. But it is not clear whether Ahmet created the map, or whether he simply translated it into Ottoman Turkish for use in the Ottoman world.

The map Haji Ahmet appended a lengthy commentary to a 16th-century map of the world annotated in the Turkish language, known as The Ottoman Mappa Mundi of Hacı Ahmet, amongst other titles, which opens with "Whoever wishes to know the true shape of the world, their minds shall be filled with light and their breast with joy."

The map is heart shaped, otherwise known as a "cordiform projection," a style that was popular in sixteenth century Europe, and the extant copy was printed from wooden blocks in Venice, Italy, in 1559. It was kept until the late 18th century in the archives of the Venetian Council of Ten. The map is now part of the Heritage Library in the Qatar National Library.

Known as the "Mappamondo Hacı Ahmet", the map outlines legends and place-names in Turkish, and it may be the first map in Turkish ever published for sale to an Ottoman audience. Whether the map is original, or was simply a translation into Turkish, it helps show how the people of the Ottoman Empire perceived themselves in relation to the wider world.

Authorship

The map is considered unlikely to be original, and was probably translated into Turkish by Ahmet.

The map has specific European characteristics, in that it includes the use of Western terms,

“I, this poor, wretched and downtrodden Haji Ahmet of Tunis studied since I was a small child in the Maghrib, in the city of Fez", says Ahmet in the text, which briefly describes his origins, saying that he was captured from the infidels and described how, in creating the map, he would regain his liberty.

According to the story, Ahmet was educated in Fez, and when a European nobleman purchased him, he was able to continue to practice his Islamic religion.