Piri Re’is (1465-1554) was an Ottoman navigator and cartographer. Re’is is a title meaning commander. He served in the Turkish navy during the reigns of Yavuz Selim (1512-1520) and Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566) He is known as the author of an atlas of the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas called Bahriye presented to Suleiman. The stamp shows a map of Cyprus from the Bahriye.

     In 1513 he created the map known as the “Piri Re’is map.” Only half of the map has survived. It was discovered in 1929 and is preserved in the Imperial Library in the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul.

     “This map was drawn by Piri Ibn Haji Mehmed, known as the nephew of Kemal Re’is, in the year 919 [March 9 to April 7, 1513].... In this century there is no map like this map in anyone’s possession....From about twenty charts and Mappae Mundi...and from the maps just drawn by four Portuguese...and also from a map drawn by Colombo....By reducing all these maps to one scale this final form was arrived at. So that the present map is as correct and reliable for the Seven Seas as the map of these our countries is considered correct and reliable by seamen.”

From notes made by Piri Re’is on his map

Gregory C. McInosh, "A Tale of Two Admirals" Columbus and the Piri Reis Map of 1513," Mercator's World May June 2000, pp. 18-23.