Evliya Celebi (also known as Dervis Mehmed Zilli) was one of the most famous Ottoman travelers, who traveled throughout the territories of the Ottoman Empire and the neighbouring lands over a period of 40 years.

Born on February 25, 1611 in Istanbul as the son of a jewelry designer for the Ottoman court, he received an excellent education. After initially traveling in Istanbul and taking notes on buildings, markets, customs and culture, he started his first journey outside the city in 1640. His collection of notes of all of his travels formed a ten volume work called Seyahatname (Book of Travels). Although many of the descriptions in this book were written in a quite exaggerated manner, his notes are widely accepted as a useful guide to the cultural aspects and life style of Ottoman Empire in the 17th century.

The Seyahatname contains the first transcriptions of many Caucasian languages, and the only extant specimens of written Ubykh outside the linguistic literature.