Abstract
My paper explores the cartographic dimension of the Ottoman expansion during the Early Modern era. Special attention will be paid to various ways in which the body of geographic knowledge passed down from antiquity was made use of. The first part addresses the genealogical equation of Turks and Trojans, a topos that underwent a radical reinterpretation in the wake of the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. In the second section I will discuss how Ptolemy’s Geography was received and classical knowledge in general lived on in the Ottoman Empire. It will be demonstrated that this knowledge was imparted further by Byzantine scholars immediately from 1453 onwards and brought up to date, partly in a process of dialogue with Western European literati.