mamluk

The Mamluks were a military caste of slave soldiers who rose to political power and established the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt and Syria, ruling from the mid-13th century until 1517. The term mamluk means “owned slave,” reflecting their origin as enslaved people purchased for military service. Most were taken from the Caucasus or neighboring regions and converted to Islam, then trained as cavalrymen and administrators.

The Mamluks first seized effective control of Cairo and the Ayyubid realm in the mid-1200s, eventually founding a sultanate that centered on Egypt but extended into the Levant. They are known for halting the Mongol advance in 1260 at the Battle of Ain Jalut and for driving Crusader states out of the Levant, culminating in the fall of Acre in 1291. The realm was governed by a professional slave army and a merit-based but tightly hierarchical administration, with power exercised by powerful emirs and a succession of sultans.

Historically, the Mamluk regime is divided into two dynastic periods: the Bahri (1250–1382), traditionally associated with river-c fleet contingents, and the Burji (1382–1517), named for the troops stationed in the citadel. Both periods maintained strong military discipline, architectural patronage, and urban growth in Cairo, along with the construction of mosques, madrasas, and other public works. The economy depended on agriculture, trade, and tax revenues, including revenues from the pilgrimage routes and Mediterranean commerce.

The Mamluk state ended with Ottoman conquest in 1517 during the reign of Selim I. Their legacy endures in Cairo’s architectural heritage and in the historical memory of medieval Islamic governance, military organization, and cultural patronage.