Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)

The Mamluk Sultanate (Arabic: سلطنة المماليك‎ Sulṭanat al-Mamālīk) was a medieval realm spanning Egypt, the Levant, and Hejaz. It lasted from the overthrow of the Ayyubid Dynasty until the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517. Historians have traditionally broken the era of Mamlūk rule into two periods—one covering 1250–1382, the other, 1382–1517. Western historians call the former the "Baḥrī" period and the latter the "Burjī," because of the political dominance of the regiments known by these names during the respective times. The contemporary Muslim historians referred to the same divisions as the "Turkish" and "Circassian" periods, in order to call attention to the change in ethnic origin of the majority of Mamlūks.

Mamlūk state reached its height under the Turkish rule and then fell into a prolonged phase of decline under the Circassians. The sultanate's ruling caste was composed of Mamluks, soldiers of predominantly Cuman-Kipchaks (from Crimea),Circassian, Abkhazian,Oghuz Turks and Georgian slave origin. While Mamluks were purchased, their status was above ordinary slaves, who were not allowed to carry weapons or perform certain tasks. Mamluks were considered to be "true lords", with social status above citizens of Egypt. Though it declined towards the end of its existence, at its height the sultanate represented the zenith of medieval Egyptian and Levantine political, economic, and cultural glory in the Islamic era.

Mamluk

Mamluk (Arabic: مملوك mamlūk (singular), مماليك mamālīk (plural), meaning "property" or "owned slave" of the king, also transliterated as mamlouk, mamluq, mamluke, mameluk, mameluke, mamaluke or marmeluke) is an Arabic designation for slaves.

More specifically, it refers to:

The most enduring Mamluk realm was the military caste in medieval Egypt that rose from the ranks of slave soldiers who were mainly Turkic,Circassian,Georgian, and Coptic Egyptian. Many Mamluks could also be of Balkan origin (Albanian, Greek, and South Slavic). The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior class, was of great political importance and was extraordinarily long-lived, lasting from the 9th to the 19th centuries AD.

Over time, mamluks became a powerful military caste in various societies that were controlled by Muslim rulers. Particularly in Egypt, but also in the Levant, Mesopotamia, and India, mamluks held political and military power. In some cases, they attained the rank of sultan, while in others they held regional power as amirs or beys. Most notably, mamluk factions seized the sultanate for themselves in Egypt and Syria in a period known as the Mamluk Sultanate (1250–1517). The Mamluk Sultanate famously beat back the troops of the Ilkhanate at the Battle of Ain Jalut and fought the Crusaders, effectively driving them out from the Levant and Egypt in 1213-1221 and 1154-1169 then officially in 1302 from the Levant ending the era of the Crusades.

Mamluk (disambiguation)

Mamluk may refer to