[FIRST ACCOUNT OF MUSLIMS IN BRAZIL] Tercüme-i seyahatnâme-i Brezilya [sic. Brazilya]. Prep. by Serif Efendi. [i.e. Voyage to Brazil].

ABDURRAHMAN b. ABDULLAH BAGDADÎ EFENDI, (Ottoman qadi -judge-), (Early 19th century)., Matbaa-i Âmire., Istanbul, [1288 AH] = 1871.

Original wrappers. Red cover. Foolscap 8vo. (18 x 12 cm). In Ottoman script. 44 p. Occasionally foxing on cover and pages with a sizable tear on the rear cover. Otherwise a very good copy. Hegira: 1288 = Gregorian: 1871. 

Extremely rare first edition of this first account of Muslims in Brazil, which is the second voyage ever made to the American continent by the Ottoman navy (as well as any Muslim seafarers and travelers) after Piri Reis in the 15th-16th century.

The travel log that Abdurrahman Efendi wrote in Arabic after he came back to Istanbul from Brazil, was translated into Ottoman Turkish by Antepli Mehmed Serif Efendi and published in 1288/1871. In this account, the transit to Brazil is mentioned briefly, since the writer's main focus was not on the voyage but rather on the situation of the Muslims in Brazil, a group formed mostly by African slaves and their descendants, who were enslaved by Portuguese and British colonists. Abdurrahman Efendi describes the lessons he gave, a booklet in Portuguese with Arabic letters he prepared to outline the basics of Islam, the city of Rio de Janeiro, the plantations near the port, some tropic fruits in Brazil, vast forests from Brazil to the south of the continent, the city of Ebaiye [i.e. Salvador] and Marnempugo, diamond mining area called Lugabiryanti besides the daily life of Muslims in 19th-century Brazil, such as the students' houses of worship, tribal chiefs whom they call "Fa", or "Imam", etc. His Brazil travel log gives his route of return and the main points he visited like Lisbon, Cordoba, Gibraltar, Tanca, Jeddah, and Mecca, on his way back to Istanbul.

With regard to this account, two Ottoman warships bearing the names “Bursa” and “Izmir” left Istanbul en route to their new duty station in the Persian Gulf on 12 September 1865. The ships passed through the Mediterranean Sea and the Strait of Gibraltar into the Atlantic Ocean, planning to follow the African shoreline to Basra. After visiting Cadiz and the Canary Islands, they set sail from the Cape Verde Islands but on 19 May they encountered a storm that threw them in the Atlantic, and this 17-day voyage of uncertainty ultimately brought them to the shores of Brazil, where they laid anchor at the port of Rio de Janeiro. 

OCLC 805941733. Özege 20671.