The Mamluk Sultanate (Arabic: سلطنة المماليك, romanized: Salṭanat al-Mamālīk), also known as Mamluk Egypt or the Mamluk Empire, was a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz from the mid-13th to early 16th centuries, with Cairo as its capital. It was ruled by a military caste of mamluks (freed slave soldiers) headed by a sultan. The sultanate was established with the overthrow of the Ayyubid dynasty in Egypt in 1250 and was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1517. Mamluk history is generally divided into the Turkic or Bahri period (1250–1382) and the Circassian or Burji period (1382–1517), named after the predominant ethnicity or corps of the ruling Mamluks during these respective eras.
The first rulers of the sultanate hailed from the mamluk regiments of the Ayyubid sultan al-Salih Ayyub (r. 1240–1249), usurping power from his successor in 1250. The Mamluks under Sultan Qutuz and Baybars routed the Mongols in 1260, halting their southward expansion. They then conquered or gained suzerainty over the Ayyubids' Syrian principalities. Baybars also reestablished the Abbasid dynasty of caliphs in Cairo, though their role was ceremonial. By the end of the 13th century, through the efforts of sultans Baybars, Qalawun (r. 1279–1290) and al-Ashraf Khalil (r. 1290–1293), the Mamluks had conquered the Crusader states, expanded into Makuria (Nubia), Cyrenaica, the Hejaz, and southern Anatolia. The sultanate experienced a long period of stability and prosperity during the third reign of al-Nasir Muhammad (r. 1310–1341), before giving way to the internal strife characterizing the succession of his sons, when real power was held by senior emirs.
One such emir, Barquq, overthrew the sultan in 1382 and again in 1390, inaugurating Burji rule. Mamluk authority across the empire eroded under his successors due to foreign invasions, tribal rebellions, and natural disasters, and the state entered into a long period of financial distress. Under Sultan Barsbay, major efforts were taken to replenish the treasury, particularly monopolization of trade with Europe and tax expeditions into the countryside. He also managed to impose Mamluk authority abroad, forcing Cyprus to submit in 1426. The sultanate stagnated after this. Sultan Qaitbay's long and competent reign (r. 1468–1496) ensured some stability, though it was marked by conflicts with the Ottomans. The last effective sultan was Qansuh al-Ghuri (r. 1501–1516), whose reign was known for heavy-handed fiscal policies, attempted military reforms, and confrontations with the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean. In 1516, he was killed in battle against Ottoman sultan Selim I, who subsequently conquered Egypt in 1517 and ended Mamluk rule.
Under Mamluk rule, Cairo reached the peak of its size and wealth before the modern period, becoming one of the largest cities in the world at the time. The sultanate's economy was primarily agrarian, but its geographic position also placed it at the center of trade between Europe and the Indian Ocean. The Mamluks themselves relied on the iqta' system to provide revenues. They were also major patrons of art and architecture: inlaid metalwork, enameled glass, and illuminated Qur'an manuscripts were among the high points of art, while Mamluk architecture still makes up much of the fabric of historic Cairo today and is found throughout their former domains.
The 'Mamluk Sultanate' is a modern historiographical term. Arabic sources throughout the Mamluk period, especially during the Bahri regime, referred to the state as Dawlat al-Atrak, Dawlat al-Turk, or al-Dawla al-Turkiyya, meaning 'State of the Turks'. During Burji rule, it was also referred to as the 'State of the Circassians' (Dawlat al-Jarakisa). These names emphasized the ethnic origin of the rulers, and Mamluk writers did not explicitly highlight their status as slaves, except on rare occasions during the Circassian period.
The mamluk was a manumitted slave, distinguished from the ghulam, or household slave. After thorough training in martial arts, court etiquette and Islamic sciences, these slaves were freed but expected to remain loyal to their master and serve his household. Mamluks formed part of the military apparatus in Syria and Egypt since at least the 9th century, rising to become the Tulunid and Ikhshidid governing dynasties in these regions.
Mamluk regiments constituted the backbone of Egypt's military under Ayyubid rule, beginning under Sultan Saladin (r. 1174–1193), who replaced the Fatimid Caliphate's black African infantry with mamluks. Each Ayyubid sultan and high-ranking emir had a private mamluk corps. Most of the mamluks in the Ayyubids' service were ethnic Kipchak Turks from Central Asia, who, upon entering service, were converted to Sunni Islam and taught Arabic. After their manumission, mamluks were given a position in either the courtly administration or the army.
The Ayyubid sultan as-Salih Ayyub (r. 1240–1249) had acquired about one thousand mamluks, who were called the Salihiyya (sing. 'Salihi') after their master. Upon his accession, he promoted the Salihiyya, provisioning them through confiscated iqtaʿat (akin to fiefs; sing. iqtaʿ) from his predecessors' emirs and creating a loyal paramilitary apparatus so dominant that contemporaries viewed Egypt as "Salihi-ridden", according to historian Winslow William Clifford. While historian Stephen Humphreys asserts the Salihiyya's increasing dominance of the state did not personally threaten al-Salih due to their fidelity, Clifford believes the Salihiyya's autonomy fell short of such loyalty.
In 1249, Louis IX of France captured Damietta during the Seventh Crusade. As the Crusaders advanced, al-Salih died and was succeeded by his Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia)-based son al-Mu'azzam Turanshah. Turanshah challenged the Salihiyya's dominance in the paramilitary apparatus by promoting his Kurdish retinue from the Jazira and Syria as a counterweight. On 11 February 1250, the Bahriyya (sing. Bahri), a junior regiment of the Salihiyya commanded by Baybars, defeated the Crusaders at the Battle of al-Mansura. On 6 April, Egypt's forces annihilated the Crusader army, capturing Louis IX. The victorious Turanshah promoted his own entourage and mamluks, the 'Mu'azzamiya', at the expense of the Salihiyya. On 2 May 1250, disgruntled Salihi emirs assassinated Turanshah at his camp in Fariskur.
An electoral college dominated by the Salihiyya convened to choose Turanshah's successor among the Ayyubid emirs, with opinion largely split between an-Nasir Yusuf of Damascus and al-Mughith Umar of al-Karak. Consensus settled on al-Salih's widow, Shajar al-Durr. She ensured the Salihiyya's paramilitary dominance and inaugurated patronage and kinship ties with them. She cultivated especially close ties with the Jamdari (pl. Jamdariyya) and Bahri corps. Her and the military's preference to preserve the Ayyubid state were evident when the army, supported by the Bahriyya and Jamdariyya, rebuffed the attempt of the Salihi mamluk and atabeg al-askar (commander of the military), Aybak, to monopolize power. The Bahriyya compelled Aybak to share power with al-Ashraf Musa, a grandson of Sultan al-Kamil (r. 1213–1238).
Aybak was the main bulwark against the Bahri and Jamdari emirs, and his promotion as atabeg al-askar led to Bahri rioting in Cairo, the first of many intra-Salihi clashes about his ascendancy. The Bahriyya and Jamdariyya were represented by their patron, Faris al-Din Aktay, a principal organizer of Turanshah's assassination. Shajar al-Durr viewed Aktay as a counterweight to Aybak. Aybak moved against the Bahriyya by shutting their Roda headquarters in 1251 and assassinating Aktay in 1254. Afterward, Aybak purged the Salihiyya of dissidents, causing a temporary exodus of Bahri mamluks to Gaza.
Aybak was assassinated on 10 April 1257, possibly on orders from Shajar al-Durr, who was assassinated a week later. Their deaths left a power vacuum in Egypt, with Aybak's teenage son, al-Mansur Ali, as heir to the sultanate and Aybak's close aide, Sayf al-Din Qutuz, as strongman. The Bahriyya and al-Mughith Umar twice attempted to conquer Egypt in November 1257 and 1258 but were defeated. Qutuz deposed Ali in 1259 and purged or arrested the Mu'izziya and any remaining Bahri mamluks in Egypt to eliminate potential opposition. The surviving Mu'izzi and Bahri mamluks rallied around Baybars, who had established an opposing shadow state in Gaza.