Nasuh bin Karagöz bin Abdullah el-Visokavi el-Bosnavî, commonly known as Matrakçı Nasuh (; ) for his competence in the combat sport of ''

Matrak Matrak is an Ottoman combat sport based on sword and shield fighting, Invented by the Ottoman Bosnian statesman, historian and scientist Nasuh Matrakčija Visočak ''(full name in Turkish: Nasuh bin Karagöz bin Abdullah el-Bosnavî)'' in the ...

'' which was invented by himself, (also known as ''Nasuh el-Silâhî'', ''Nasuh the Swordsman'', because of his talent with weapons; 1480 – 1564) was a 16th-century Turk-Bosniak statesman of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

polymath A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...

, mathematician, teacher, historian,

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

cartographer Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an ...

, swordmaster,

navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's prima ...

, inventor, painter, farmer, and

miniaturist A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolor, or enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, and were popular among 16th-century eli ...

. He was brought to Istanbul after being recruited by Ottoman scouts in

Rumelia Rumelia ( ota, روم ايلى, Rum İli; tr, Rumeli; el, Ρωμυλία), etymologically "Land of the Romans", at the time meaning Eastern Orthodox Christians and more specifically Christians from the Byzantine rite, was the name of a hi ...

. He was then educated, served several Ottoman

sultans Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, i ...

, and became a teacher at

Enderun School The Enderun School ( ota, اندرون مکتب, Enderûn Mektebi) was a palace school and boarding school within Topkapi Palace. It was mostly for Princes of the court and the Janissaries of the Ottoman Empire. Students here were primarily recr ...

Life

French fleet with Barbarossa at the Siege of Nice 1543

Matrakçı Nasuh, born in the Bosnian town of

Visoko Visoko ( sr-cyrl, Високо, ) is a city located in the Zenica-Doboj Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, the municipality had a population of 39,938 inhabitants with 11,205 liv ...

, was a

Janissary A Janissary ( ota, یڭیچری, yeŋiçeri, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops and the first modern standing army in Europe. The corps was most likely established under sultan Orhan ...

who went through both the infantry and the

devşirme Devshirme ( ota, دوشیرمه, devşirme, collecting, usually translated as "child levy"; hy, Մանկահավաք, Mankahavak′. or "blood tax"; hbs-Latn-Cyrl, Danak u krvi, Данак у крви, mk, Данок во крв, Danok vo krv ...

system. He was a swordsman and sharpshooter who spoke five languages and was recruited into the Ottoman Navy. Although born to Bosnian Muslim parentage, Nasuh was drafted into the devşirme system, usually reserved for the Christian populace of the empire. Exceptionally, however, in Bosnia, the devşirme was also extended to local Muslim families. After a long period of studying mathematics and geometry, he wrote his works ''Cemâlü'l-Küttâb'' and ''Kemalü'l- Hisâb'' and submitted them to the Ottoman sultan

Selim I Selim I ( ota, سليم الأول; tr, I. Selim; 10 October 1470 – 22 September 1520), known as Selim the Grim or Selim the Resolute ( tr, links=no, Yavuz Sultan Selim), was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520. Despite las ...

. He wrote also the two books named ''Mecmaü't-Tevârih'' and ''Süleymannâme'', on history from 1520–43. He also wrote a historical piece on the Persian campaign of Suleiman I titled ''Fetihname-i Karabuğdan''. A recent study of his book ''Umdet-ul Hisab'' found that Matrakçı had invented some multiplication methods and that the lattice method had been widely used in the

nearly 50 years before

John Napier John Napier of Merchiston (; 1 February 1550 – 4 April 1617), nicknamed Marvellous Merchiston, was a Scottish landowner known as a mathematician, physicist, and astronomer. He was the 8th Laird of Merchiston. His Latinized name was Ioan ...

reintroduced it to Europe. Barbarossa fleet wintering in Toulon 1543

Besides his works on mathematics and history, he painted miniatures which focus on panoramic views of landscapes and cities painted with the greatest detail (his Istanbul landscape picture, shows almost every street and building of the city). In Ottoman miniature art, this was later known as the "Matrakçı style". One of his four volumes of miniatures deals with Suleiman I's Safavid war, upon which he had written his historical work ''Fetihname-i Karabuğdan''. Besides illustrating the march of the Ottoman army from

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

and then

Tabriz Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quru River valley in Iran's historic Azerbaijan region between long ridges of vo ...

and its return via

Halab )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

and

Eskişehir Eskişehir ( , ; from "old" and "city") is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. The urban population of the city is 898,369 with a metropolitan population of 797,708. The city is located on the banks of the ...

, Nasuh also includes all the cities met by the army along the way. The Library of

Istanbul University , image = Istanbul_University_logo.svg , image_size = 200px , latin_name = Universitas Istanbulensis , motto = tr, Tarihten Geleceğe Bilim Köprüsü , mottoeng = Science Bridge from Past to the Future , established = 1453 1846 1933 ...

hosts the only copy of this work. Nasuh was also a soldier and a master

bladesmith Bladesmithing is the art of making knives, swords, daggers and other blades using a forge, hammer, anvil, and other smithing tools. Bladesmiths employ a variety of metalworking techniques similar to those used by blacksmiths, as well as woodwor ...

. He worked as a weapons teacher at Enderun School. He and his students demonstrated their skills in a show which was part of the

circumcision Circumcision is a procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin is excised. Top ...

celebrations of Suleiman I's sons. Because of his success in this demonstration, Nasuh received the honorary title of ''

Ustad Ustād or ostād (abbreviated as Ust., Ut. or Ud.; from Persian ) is an honorific title used in West Asia, North Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia. It is used in various languages such as Persian, , Azerbaijani, Urdu, Hindi, Bengali, Marat ...

'' ("master") and ''Reis'' ("chief") from the sultan. He also wrote a book about usage of various weapons and techniques of

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry in ...

and

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...

fight, called ''Tuhfet-ül Guzât''.

Mathematics

Nasuh, who made a name for himself in mathematics, was especially interested in arithmetic and Algebra. He was the first to introduce the

Lattice multiplication Lattice multiplication, also known as the Italian method, Chinese method, Chinese lattice, gelosia multiplication, sieve multiplication, shabakh, diagonally or Venetian squares, is a method of multiplication that uses a lattice to multiply two mul ...

system.

Multiplication begins by multiplying two numbers in the same column from the far right of the row. Since the 4x5 product (20) is a two-digit number, the number in the theirs digit (2) is written above the mesh, and the number (0) in the ones digit is written below the mesh.

Works

Mathematics

* ''Cemâlü'l-Küttâb'' * ''Kemalü'l- Hisâb'' * ''Umdetü'l-Hisâb''

History

* ''Mecmaü't-Tevârih'' (Sum of History) * ''Süleymannâme'' (Book of Suleiman) * ''Fetihname-i Karabuğdan'' (Book of ) * ''Beyan-ı Menazil-i Sefer-i Irakeyn-i Sultan Süleyman Han'' (Chronicle of Stages of Campaign of Iraq and Persia of Sultan Suleiman Khan)

Martial Arts

* ''Tuhfet-ul Guzat'' (Gift of Warriors)

Gallery

خارطة بغداد.jpg, Map of Baghdad Matrakçı_Nasuh_Map_(18).JPG, Miniaturised Map Matrakçı_Nasuh_Map_(20).JPG, Miniaturised Map Matrakçı Nasuh Soltaniyeh Map (1).JPG, 16th century map of Soltaniyeh city by Matrakçı Nasuh Matrakçı Nasuh Soltaniyeh Map (2).JPG, 16th century map of Soltaniyeh city by Matrakçı Nasuh İstanbul_in_the_Menazilname_by_Matrakçı_Nasuh_(detail_of_the_peninsula).jpg, Map of Istanbul Matrakçı_Nasuh_-_İstanbul.jpg, Map of Istanbul Matrakçı_Nasuh_Map_(5).JPG, Matraki1.jpg, Matraki's square

lattice multiplication Lattice multiplication, also known as the Italian method, Chinese method, Chinese lattice, gelosia multiplication, sieve multiplication, shabakh, diagonally or Venetian squares, is a method of multiplication that uses a lattice to multiply two mul ...

Matraki2.jpg, Matraki's triangular

Honors and legacy

In his hometown of Visoko, in Bosnia Matrakčija is regarded as a Bosnian

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested on ...

. A street near the ''Hometown Heritage Museum Visoko'' ''(Zavičajni Muzej Visoko)'' is named after him: Matrakčijina (English: Matrakci's Street). A documentary film about Matrakçı was produced by Turkish Radio-television in 1978.

References

External links