Kâtip Çelebi's Taqvîm at-Tawârîkh (text-assessment)

Kâtip Çelebi, who was one of the most productive people among Ottoman writers, told a chronological world history on his book "Taqwîm at-Tawârîkh". The book begins with the creation of Adam and ends in 1648. In this world history, Kâtip Çelebi explains the history of time as well as the important events year by year. At the end of the book, a table can be seen that includes information about states and statesman after which Çelebi concludes his book with an epilogue. Çelebi wrote about the way calendars work, history of time and the dates of important events with the help of Ulugh Beg's Zij, Abulfeda's al-Mukhtasar, Cenâbî's History and Neşrî's History. Not much detail is provided, the events are just given as titles. On the other hand, Kâtip Çelebi wrote many explanations and chronograms on marginalia. In Ottoman historiography, when historical calendars were losing their popularity, Kâtip Çelebi brought something new to this genre with his work. The work was reproduced by being copied out for almost a hundred years. It was translated into many languages such as Italian, French, Latin and Persian, and printed as well. Additionally, many historians, such as Şehrizade Mehmed Said and Şemdânîzâde Süleyman Efendi, who were successor to Çelebi, built their works on Taqvîm at-Tawârîkh. In this dissertation called Taqwîm at-Tawârîkh, which was previously published as a facsimile but was not Latinized, is now transcribed and the importance of the work has been assessed. Keywords: Kâtip Çelebi, Taqvîm at-Tawârîkh, historical calendars, historiography, world history