Mamluk Sultanate

state in Egypt, Hejaz and the Levant (1250–1517)

The Mamluk Sultanate (Arabic: سلطنة المماليك, romanized: Salṭanat al-Mamālīk), also known as Mamluk Egypt or the Mamluk Empire, was a state that controlled Egypt, The Levant, and Hejaz from 1250 to 1517.[5][6][7] The first sultans (kings) of the Mamluk Sultanate were mamluks (slave-soldiers) in the armies of the Ayyubid dynasty. The Mamluk Sultanate was the strongest military power in the central Muslim world. They fended off the Mongols and exterminated the Crusaders in the Holy Land (The Levant).[8] The Mamluk sultans also controlled south-eastern Asia Minor and western Arabia.[8] Most of the sultanate's mamluks were Turkic people or Circassians.[7][5] The Arabic language was the state's and the government's most important language. Most of the sultans carried Arabic names and were heavily Arabized.[7]

Mamluk Sultanate
سلطنة المماليك  (Arabic)
Salṭanat al-Mamālīk (Mamluk Sultanate)
دولة الأتراك‎  (Arabic)
Dawlat al-Atrāk (Turkic State)
دولة الجراكسة  (Arabic)
Dawlat al-Jarākisa (Circassian State)
1250–1517
Flag of Mamluk Sultanate
Flags according to the Catalan Atlas of c. 1375
Attributed arms of the Mamluk Sultan
Attributed arms of the Mamluk Sultan
(by Mecia de Viladestes map, 1413)
Extent of the Mamluk Sultanate under Sultan an-Nasir Muhammad
Extent of the Mamluk Sultanate under Sultan an-Nasir Muhammad
CapitalCairo
Common languages
Religion
GovernmentSultanate under ceremonial Caliphate[4]
Caliph 
• 1261
Al-Mustansir (first)
• 1262–1302
Al-Hakim I
• 1406–1414
Abū al-Faḍl Al-Musta'in
• 1508–1516
Al-Mutawakkil III (last)
Sultan 
• 1250
Shajar ad-Durr (first)
• 1250–1257
Izz al-Din Aybak
• 1260–1277
Baibars
• 1516–1517
Tuman bay II (last)
History 
• Murder of Turanshah
2 May 1250
22 January 1517
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Abbasid Caliphate
Ayyubid dynasty
Kingdom of Jerusalem
Principality of Antioch
County of Tripoli
Makuria
Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia
Tahirids (Yemen)
Ottoman Empire

References change

  1. Rabbat 2001, p. 69.
  2. Fischel 1967, p. 72.
  3. Turan, Fikret; Boeschoten, Hendrik; Stein, Heidi (2007). "The Mamluks and Their Acceptance of Oghuz Turkish as Literary Language: Political Maneuver or Cultural Aspiration?". Turcologica. Harrassowitz.
  4. Stilt, Kristen (2011). Islamic Law in Action: Authority, Discretion, and Everyday Experiences in Mamluk Egypt. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-960243-8.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Keough, Leyla (2010). "Mamluk State". In Gates, Henry Louis, Jr.; Appiah, Kwame Anthony (eds.). Encyclopedia of Africa (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195337709.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-533770-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
  6. Kazhdan, Alexander P.; Talbot, Alice-Mary (2005) [1991]. "Mamlūks". In Kazhdan, Alexander P. (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195046526.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Bloom, Jonathan M.; Blair, Sheila S., eds. (2009). "Mamluk". The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195309911.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-530991-1.
  8. 8.0 8.1 Esposito, John L., ed. (2003). "Mamluks". The Oxford Dictionary of Islam (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195125580.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-512558-0.