Following the presentation of the first volume of the "Travelogue" by the particularly significant Ottoman "World Traveler" Evliya Çelebi, focusing on Greece, the second volume follows with his journey through the Peloponnese in the year 1668.
This volume records the last years of the siege and capture of Candia (1668-1670) along with a description of the island of Crete, and a "Chronicle of the Conquest" ("Fetihname"). Subsequently, there is a brief account of the Cycladic islands and a second description of the Morea, as Evliya Çelebi follows the officials of the Sublime Porte in their campaign to suppress the Greek uprising, which, incited by the Venetians and other Europeans, and centered in Mani, erupts against the Ottoman ruler.
Our traveler leaves the Morea intending to return to Istanbul, however, he will arrive there only after passing through Aetolia-Acarnania, Epirus, and the Albanian coasts of the Adriatic. His journey through the Greek lands, which began on December 26, 1667 (10 Receb 1078), concluded with his return to Istanbul on December 28, 1670 (15 Saban 1081).
However, this is not the first time Evliya Çelebi has traveled through Greece. He was in Crete during the Ottoman conquest of Chania in 1055/1645 (Volume II of the "Travelogue") and would pass through the Dodecanese in 1671/1082 as he heads for pilgrimage to Mecca (Volume IX of the "Travelogue").
The wealth of information he records makes his work an important source of detailed geographical, historical, social, cultural, economic, and folkloric elements. He is the primary geographer of the continental Greek region during the 17th century, just like his compatriot Piri Reis, who in the first quarter of the 16th century meticulously maps the maritime Greek area of the Aegean.
(. . .) [Excerpt from the text of the preface]
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