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Notes:

1. On the tenth night of Muharram in 1040 (August 19, 1630), Evliya 前lebi dreamed that the Prophet Muhammad appeared to him and encouraged him to pursue his wanderlust.
2. Sometimes traveling in an official capacity and sometimes traveling as a private individual, Evliya 前lebi recorded his observations in a vivid anecdotal style.
3. After the destruction of the Saljuqid state in the thirteenth century, the Ottomans established themselves as an independent dynasty in northwestern Anatolia, from which they expanded into Greece, Macedonia, Bulgaria, and the Balkans.
4. Under Mehmed II the Conqueror, the Ottomans established an architectural style that symbolized their imperial ambitions, a new legal code, and a policy of imperial expansion. They continued and enriched Arabic and Persian literary traditions.

Text:
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1. Despite his parents' wishes that he serve as an official in the imperial administration of Istanbul, Evliya 前lebi chose the life of a wanderer. On the tenth night of Muharram in 1040 (August 19, 1630), Evliya 前lebi dreamed that the Prophet Muhammad appeared to him and encouraged him to pursue his wanderlust. His father was the chief jeweler for the court, and his mother was related to the imperial son-in-law and high-ranking official of the court Melek Ahmet Pasha.
2. Sometimes traveling in an official capacity and sometimes traveling as a private individual, Evliya 前lebi recorded his observations in a vivid anecdotal style. The ten volumes of his Book of Travels provide an unparalleled account of life in the Ottoman empire during the mid-seventeenth century. In his writing, 前lebi is less concerned with history in the European sense than with giving detailed and accurate descriptions of the places he visited. He simultaneously educates and entertains his readers with accurate, detailed descriptions of the places he visited, punctuated with anecdotes of his adventures, which were often exaggerated for comic effect.
3. The Ottomans were descended from leaders of the Oghuz (Turkomen) tribal confederation that came to Anatolia (modern Turkey) as part of the Saljuqid army sometime in the eleventh or twelfth century. After the destruction of the Saljuqid state in the thirteenth century, the Ottomans established themselves as an independent dynasty in northwestern Anatolia, from which they expanded into Greece, Macedonia, Bulgaria, and the Balkans. Led by Mehmed II the Conqueror, the Ottomans vanquished Constantinople.
4. Under Mehmed II the Conqueror, the Ottomans established an architectural style that symbolized their imperial ambitions, a new legal code, and a policy of imperial expansion. They continued and enriched Arabic and Persian literary traditions. After the mid-seventeenth century, the Ottoman empire began a slow process of decline. By 1829, Egypt was effectively autonomous. Inspired by the French revolution, the Balkan communities rebelled against Ottoman rule. After the First World War, the victorious Allies stripped Turkey of its Arab provinces by reason of its support of the Central Powers.