Evliya Çelebi in Vezirköprü, 1648

Abstract

In February 1648, the famous Ottoman travel
writer Evliya Çelebi, travelling with the army of Defterderzade Mehmet Paşamade a stopover of several weeks
in Merzifon. From here, he undertook two journeys
across the mountains to the city of Köprü (now Vezirköprü, Samsun province). The account of Evliya’s visits
to Köprü in the second book of his Seyahatname provide an important source for the topography of Vezirköprüand its region in the early modern period. Through
a close reading of Evliya’s account and a comparison
with Joseph von Hammer’s abridged translation (1850),
this study demonstrates that while his description of the
city itself is partly based on Evliya’s first-hand observations, the following description of the area to the west of
Vezirköprü is not, and that Hammer’s reconstruction
of Evliya’s itinerary is in error. On his first visit, Evliya
spent a whole day in Vezirköprü, then returned to
Merzifon by the direct route across the Tavşan mountains, not – as Hammer assumes – by way of Göl, Kargı
and Tosya.