Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi in 1663 described Darda as an important market place with a strong fortress with towers.
Hezarfen (with Franceska) manages to escape with the help of Evliya Çelebi to the Maiden's Tower and launches his flying machine across the Bosporus.
In 1651, the place was mentioned by the Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi as a Tatar settlement named Kara Murat ("Black Murat", after its founder).
Renowned Turkish traveler Evliya Çelebi, who lived in the AD 17th century, wrote about Mingecevir and described it as a large settlement on the right bank of the River Kur near the Bozdag Mountain.
Evliya Çelebi | Katip Çelebi | Lagari Hasan Çelebi | Hezârfen Ahmed Çelebi | Hasan Çelebi |
Organisation of the eyalet in the 17th century, from the accounts of Evliya Çelebi: "There is a Kehiya, an Emin (inspector) and Muhasibji (comptroller of the defter or rolls) an Emin and Kehiya of the Chavushes, a colonel and captain of the feudal militia, four Begs called Musellim and eleven Yaya-Begs".
According to the Seyahatname of Ottoman historian and traveller Evliya Çelebi, in circa 1630-1632, Hezarfen Ahmet Çelebi flew as an early intercontinental aviator using artificial wings for gliding from this tower over the Bosphorus to the slopes of Üsküdar on the Anatolian side, nearly six kilometres away.
Organisation of the eyalet in the 17th century, from the accounts of Evliya Çelebi: "This province has a Defterdar of the treasury, and of the feuds, an Emin of the Defter and of the Chavushes a Kehiya of the Defter; and of the Chavushes an Alai-beg (colonel) and Cheri-bashi (captain)".
The 17th-century geographers Hajji Khalifa and Evliya Çelebi record that the province encompassed six kazas ("districts"): Santa Maura (Lefkada), Vonitsa, Angelokastron (in Turkish Enkili-Kastri), Xiromero (Tr. Eksemere), Valtos (Tr. Alto), and Vrachori (Tr. Imrahor).
An inscription on the Mosque recorded by the traveler Evliya Çelebi, stated that it was constructed by Ahmet Ağa in 1078 according to the Islamic calendar (circa 1668 CE).
Organisation of the eyalet in the 17th century, from the accounts of Evliya Çelebi: "The Defter (treasury) has a Kehiya and Emin, the Chavushes have the same; there is besides a captain and Defterdar of the feuds".
A 1996 feature length film, "Istanbul Beneath My Wings" (İstanbul Kanatlarımın Altında) concerns the lives of Hezârfen Ahmet Çelebi, his brother and rocket aviator Lagari Hasan Çelebi, and Ottoman society in the early 17th century, as witnessed and narrated by Evliyâ Çelebi.
Istanbul Beneath My Wings is a 1996 film about the lives of Lagari Hasan Çelebi, his brother and fellow aviator Hezârfen Ahmed Çelebi, and Ottoman society in the early 17th century as witnessed and narrated by Evliya Çelebi.