Some writers have noted visual similarities between places on the map and parts of the Americas not yet known to have been discovered. Many areas on the map have not been conclusively identified with real or mythical places. Scholarly debate exists over both the specific sources used in the map's creation and the total number of source maps. There are conflicting interpretations of the map. Professor Karen Pinto has described the combination of traditional beasts from the edge of the known world with positive portrayals as challenging the conventional Islamic idea of the known world as surrounded by an impassable Encircling Ocean. The map was unusual in the Islamic cartographic tradition for incorporating so many non-Muslim sources. The map is visually distinct from European portolan charts, populated by Islamic miniatures including monsters in the Americas. The southern coast of the Atlantic Ocean is widely accepted to be a version of Terra Australis. Scholars attribute the peculiar arrangement of the Caribbean to a now-lost source map from Columbus that depicted Cuba as part of the Asian mainland and Hispaniola according to Marco Polo's description of Japan. The map's depiction of South America is detailed and accurate for its time. It contains extensive notes written with the Arabic alphabet primarily in Ottoman Turkish. The map is a portolan chart with compass roses and a windrose network for navigation, rather than lines of longitude and latitude. The Piri Reis map is in the Library of the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul, but is not usually on public display. Found in 1929, the remaining map fragment garnered international attention as its source map for the Caribbean is likely a map made by Christopher Columbus, otherwise lost. Inscriptions in the margin detail how it was created from 20 to 34 existing source maps, both ancient and recent. Approximately one third of the map survives it shows the western coasts of Europe and North Africa and the coast of Brazil with reasonable accuracy. The Piri Reis map is a world map compiled in 1513 by the Ottoman admiral and cartographer Piri Reis.
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