Dusk

In 1513, Piri Reis, a high-ranking officer in the Imperial Turkish navy, allegedly drew a mysterious mapa mundi based on a
collection of older maps, including some that reportedly had survived the destruction of the Great Library of Alexandria. Inexplicably this map depicted the coastlines of the Americas, as well as an accurate portrayal of the Antarctic coastline, devoid of ice—surprising, indeed, since Antarctica wouldn’t be "discovered" until nearly three centuries later. Even more mysterious, researchers claim the last time the Antarctic coast was free from ice was likely 4,000 BC. Cartographers puzzled over the apparent use of spherical trigonometry, a technology that wouldn’t be available for three hundred more years. While Piri Reis claimed he drew the map from other, older maps, cartographers were bemused by the fact that it appeared to be based off maps that not only acknowledged the Earth was round, but had calculated its circumference within fifty miles of the true measure. For centuries, the map remained an oddity, dismissed by researchers and cartographers as one of the many items that just didn’t fit with
their understanding of history.

For years, the map remained under lock and key at the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, where it was discovered in 1929. It remained there until the turmoil of the Eurowars swept through Turkey. Towards the end of the war, in 2034, the European forces seized Istanbul from the disintegrating Alliance for Allah. In the destruction and chaos that accompanied one of the most violent clashes in the Eurowars, many of the nation’s most valuable treasures were lost—among them, the Piri Reis map. Most believed it was destroyed when fires ravaged part of the Palace.