Seyāḥatnāme of Evliya Çelebi, travel route, historical languages and dialects

This thesis examines the sixth volume of Seyāḥatnāme of Evliya Çelebi (Evliya Çelebi's Travelogue), considered one of the most important works of the 17th century. The work in question covers travels undertaken within the borders of the Ottoman Empire and neighbouring regions, starting from Istanbul, and provides important information about the last quarter of the 17th century in particular. The Seyahatname not only reveals the vast geographical and settlement structure of the Ottoman world in a historical context, but also contributes to the history of many communities outside the Ottoman borders. However, not all of the travel routes included in the work have been comprehensively mapped to date. The main objective of this study is to map and visualise the routes in the sixth volume in detail, thereby presenting the information in the text in a more concrete manner. Within the scope of the research, primary sources from the period in which the work was written and academic studies conducted on the subject today were examined in a comparative manner. During the analysis of the travel routes, possible omissions in Evliya Çelebi's note-taking process and possible errors that may have occurred during the transcription of the text were also taken into account. Evliya Çelebi's Seyahatname is not limited to providing geographical data, but also contains a rich linguistic material consisting of words, everyday expressions, idioms, songs, prayers and local sayings from approximately thirty different languages. However, the fact that route names are referred to in different languages or with common names creates important problems that need to be taken into account in the process of identifying the routes. For example, the name 'Ortaköy' is used as the name of a district in the provinces of Aksaray and Çorum within the borders of Turkey, while in Istanbul it is used as the name of a neighbourhood in the Beşiktaş district. vi Such naming conventions can lead to the incorrect positioning of routes. Within the scope of this thesis, the aforementioned uncertainties were carefully evaluated, and a detailed analysis was conducted to ensure the accurate identification of routes. Additionally, some of the roads travelled by the traveller are no longer in use today, and difficulties arise from changes in place names and even geographical features. Keywords: Seyāḥatnāme of Evliya Çelebi, Volume 6, Ottoman Turkish, 17th century, historical route.