Mamluk Sultanate
Egypt, 1250–1517.
Slave-soldiers trained as an elite cavalry seized power and ruled as sultans. They stopped the Mongols, expelled the last Crusaders and made Cairo the largest city of the Islamic world.
Seat of power: Cairo
Rulers
Baybars
Sultan, 1260–1277
A former slave-soldier who helped defeat the Mongols at Ain Jalut in 1260 and then took the throne. He built a postal relay system, set up a figurehead Abbasid caliph in Cairo to support his legitimacy, and campaigned every year against the Crusader states.
Portrait of Baybars: 14th century artist, Public domain, file
Qaitbay
Sultan, 1468–1496
Kept the rival factions of the Mamluk elite in balance for almost 30 years and spent heavily on architecture. His fort at Alexandria stands on the ruins of the Pharos lighthouse.
Portrait of Qaitbay: Florentine painter Cristofano dell'Altissimo, 16th century, Public domain, file
Culture
- The Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hassan (1356 to 1363) is one of the largest medieval mosques ever built.
- The historian Ibn Khaldun teaches and serves as a judge in Cairo.
- The Khan el-Khalili bazaar is founded in the 1380s and still trades today.
Picture
The Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hassan below the Citadel of Cairo.
Image: Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, file
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