Editing History of Africa (section)

===== c. 1250–1500 =====
[[File:Mamluk Sultanate of Cairo 1317 AD.jpg|thumb|Extent of the [[Mamluk Sultanate]] under Sultan [[Al-Nasir Muhammad]]]]The [[Ayyubids]] were in a precarious position. In 1248, the Christians began the [[Seventh Crusade]] with intent to conquer Egypt, but were [[Battle of Fariskur (1250)|decisively defeated]] by the embattled [[Ayyubids]] who had relied on [[Mamluk]] generals. The [[Al-Muazzam Turanshah|Ayyubid sultan]] attempted to alienate the victorious Mamluks, who revolted, killing him and seizing power in Egypt, with rule given to a military caste of [[Mamluk]]s headed by the [[Bahri Mamluks|Bahri dynasty]], whilst the remaining [[Ayyubid dynasty|Ayyubid empire]] was destroyed in the [[Mongol invasions of the Levant]]. Following the [[Mongol Empire|Mongol]] [[Siege of Baghdad]] in 1258, the [[Mamluks]] re-established the [[Abbasid Caliphate#Abbasid Caliphate of Cairo (1261–1517)|Abbasid Caliphate in Cairo]], and over the next few decades conquered the [[Crusader states]] and, assisted by [[Mongol Empire#Mongol Civil War|civil war in the Mongol Empire]], defeated the [[Ilkhanate|Mongols]], before consolidating their rule over the [[Levant]] and Syria.<ref name="Garcin 1984" />{{rp|pages=150–158}} To the west, the three dynasties vied for supremacy and control of the [[trans-Saharan trade]].<ref name=":3" />{{rp|pages=34–43}}

Following the collapse of the [[Abbasids]], the [[Hafsids]] were briefly recognised as caliphs by the [[Sharifate of Mecca|sharifs of Mecca]] and the [[Mamluks]]. Throughout the 14th century, the [[Marinids]] intermittently occupied the [[Zayyanids]] several times, and devastated the [[Hafsids]] in 1347 and 1357. The [[Marinids]] then succumbed to internal division, exacerbated by plague and financial crisis, culminating in the rise of the [[Wattasid dynasty]] from [[Zenata]] in 1472, with the [[Hafsids]] becoming the dominant power.<ref name=":3">{{cite book|last=Hrbek|first=Ivan|url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000134377|title=General History of Africa: Volume 4|publisher=UNESCO Publishing|year=1984|chapter=The disintegration of the political unity of the Maghreb}}</ref>{{rp|pages=34–43}} Throughout the 15th century, the [[Spanish conquest of the Canary Islands|Spanish colonised the Canary Isles]] in the first example of modern [[settler colonialism]], causing the genocide of the [[Guanches|native Berber population]] in the process. To the east, the turn of the 15th century saw the [[Mamluks]] oppose the expansionist [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]] and [[Timurids]] in the Middle East, with plague and famine eroding Mamlukian authority, until internal conflict was reconciled. The following decades saw the [[Mamluks]] reach their greatest extent with efficacious economic reforms, however the threat of the growing [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]] and [[Portuguese maritime exploration#Indian Ocean explorations (1497–1542)|Portuguese trading practices in the Indian Ocean]] posed great challenges to the empire at the turn of the 16th century.