Evliya Çelebi

author

Evliya Çelebi

A lively 17th-century Ottoman traveler and writer, remembered for turning years of journeys into one of the great travel books of the early modern world. His observations range from court life and city streets to legends, customs, and everyday details across a vast empire and beyond.

2 Audiobooks

Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa, in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. I

Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa, in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. I

by Evliya Çelebi

Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa, in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. II

Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa, in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. II

by Evliya Çelebi

About the author

Born in Istanbul in 1611, he became famous for the Seyahatname (Book of Travels), a sprawling account of journeys that took him across the Ottoman Empire and neighboring lands. He drew on his education at court and his sharp memory to record what he saw in places stretching from the Balkans and Anatolia to the Middle East and North Africa.

What makes his work endure is its energy. He mixed geography, history, anecdote, humor, and local color, giving readers a vivid sense of how people lived, spoke, celebrated, and traveled in the 1600s.

Although some stories in his writing are colorful enough to invite caution, the Seyahatname remains an invaluable source for historians and a wonderful read for anyone curious about the wider world of the Ottoman age.