Empire · 1250–1517 · Northern Africa

Mamluk Sultanate

Also known as Mamluke Sultanate

Mamluks were slave soldiers, mostly Turkic and later Circassian boys bought from the steppes and trained as elite cavalry. In 1250 the mamluks of Egypt's Ayyubid sultan seized power, founding a state ruled by former slaves.

In 1260 their army under Qutuz and Baybars defeated the Mongols at Ain Jalut in Palestine, halting the Mongol advance, and over the following decades they expelled the last Crusaders, taking Acre in 1291. The Mamluks ruled Egypt, Syria and the holy cities of Arabia, sheltered a figurehead Abbasid caliph in Cairo, and grew rich from the spice trade between India and Europe. Sultans rarely founded lasting dynasties, as rival mamluk factions competed for power. Plague, Portuguese competition in the Indian Ocean and Ottoman firearms ended the sultanate in 1517.

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Years

1250–1517

Capital

Cairo

Greatest extent

1300, about 2.10 million km²

Region

Northern Africa

Egypt, Syria, Palestine and the Hejaz; c. 2.1M km² (Taagepera 1997); c. 2.1M km² (Taagepera 1997, c. 1300; Turchin, Adams & Hall 2006, c. 1400)