Seyahatname

Seyahatname, Turkish for “travelogue,” is most often associated with the 17th‑century Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi and his extensive account of journeys across the Ottoman world and beyond. Written over several decades, roughly from the 1640s to the 1670s, the work surveys regions under Ottoman influence and adjacent areas, including major cities in Anatolia, the Balkans, the Levant, North Africa, and parts of Europe and Asia.

The text is composed in Ottoman Turkish, rich with Persian and Arabic loanwords, and blends narrative travel writing with ethnographic description, topographical notes, and historical anecdotes. It is valued for its vivid portraits of urban life—streets, markets, mosques, craftsmen, cuisine—and for observations on local customs, dress, religion, governance, and architecture. While the prose can be expansive and sometimes embellished, the Seyahatname offers a rare window into the material and social textures of the early modern world as seen from the Ottoman milieu.

The work survives in numerous manuscripts and has been transmitted through printed editions since the 17th century. Modern scholarship has produced critical editions and translations into Turkish and various European languages, helping to position the Seyahatname as a foundational source in Ottoman history, Mediterranean studies, and world travel literature. It also helped establish the Seyahatname as a recognized genre in Turkish literature, influencing later travel writing and ethnographic reportage.