‘A Turkish book on the New World was written in the late sixteenth century, and was apparently based on information from European sources–oral rather than written. It describes the flora, fauna and inhabitants of the New World and expresses the hope that this blessed land would in due course be illuminated by the light of Islam. This book also remained unknown until it was printed in Istanbul in 1729…Knowledge was something to be acquired, stored, if necessary bought, rather than grown or developed.’
