There is a map of Istanbul, published in 1686, in the fourth volume of Allain Manesson Mallet’s Description de l’univers, a five-volume account of the geography, customs and religions of the ancient and the modern world (Figure 0.1).1 The south-north-oriented map anticipates a viewing experience starting at the Golden Gate, the Byzantine ceremonial portal marked with the star-shaped Fortress of the Seven Towers, which Mehmed II commissioned shortly after the Ottoman conquest as part of his grand design for the imperial capital.2 The viewer’s gaze then moves through the city, its boundaries clearly defined with thick strokes indicating the city walls. On the east, as the Marmara Sea subtly joins the Bosphorus Canal, four galleons sail northward to the tip of the peninsula. On the west, a network of roads connects to the various gates of the city. The map ends in the Genoese colony of Galata and the vineyards of Pera across the Golden Horn, where more ships are sailing in and out of the natural harbour.