Editing Mamluk (section)

==Egypt==
{{Main|Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)}}

===Early origins in Egypt===
{{See also|Balkan slave trade}}
[[File:BattleOfHoms1299.JPG|thumb|The [[battle of Wadi al-Khazandar]], 1299. depicting [[Mongol]] archers and Mamluk cavalry; 14th-century illustration from a manuscript of the ''[[La Flor des estoires de la terre d'Orient|History of the Tatars]]''.]]
[[File:View from the citadel.JPG|thumb|[[Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan]] (left) along with the later [[Al-Rifa'i Mosque]] (right) and two [[Ottoman architecture in Egypt|Ottoman mosques]] (foreground) in [[Cairo]]]]

The practice of [[History of slavery in the Muslim world|recruiting slaves as soldiers in the Muslim world]] and turning them into Mamluks began in [[Baghdad]] during the 9th century CE,<ref name="OxfordBusinessGroup"/> and was started by the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid caliph]] [[Al-Mu'tasim|al-Muʿtaṣim]].<ref name="Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |title=Mamluk |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mamluk |date=11 February 2023 |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]] |location=[[Edinburgh]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160121153759/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Noahide-Laws |archive-date=21 January 2016 |url-status=live |access-date=4 April 2023 |quote='''Mamluk''', also spelled '''Mameluke''', [[slave soldier]], a member of [[History of slavery in the Muslim world|one of the armies of slaves]] established during the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid era]] that later won political control of [[Muslim world|several Muslim states]]. Under the [[Ayyubid dynasty|Ayyubid sultanate]], Mamluk generals used their power to [[Mamluk Sultanate|establish a dynasty that ruled Egypt and Syria]] from 1250 to 1517. The name is derived from an Arabic word for slave. The use of Mamluks as a major component of Muslim armies became a distinct feature of [[History of Islam|Islamic civilization]] as early as the 9th century CE. The practice was begun in [[Baghdad]] by the ʿAbbasid caliph [[Al-Mu'tasim|al-Muʿtaṣim]] (833–842), and it soon spread throughout the Muslim world.}}</ref>

From the 900s through the 1200s, [[Egypt in the Middle Ages|medieval Egypt]] was controlled by dynastic foreign rulers, notably the [[Ikhshidid dynasty|Ikhshidids]], [[Fatimid dynasty|Fatimids]], and [[Ayyubid dynasty|Ayyubids]]. Throughout these dynasties, thousands of Mamluk [[slave-soldier]]s and guards continued to be used and even took high offices.<ref name="Levanoni 2010"/> This increasing level of influence among the Mamluks worried the [[Ayyubid dynasty|Ayyubids]] in particular. Eventually, a Mamluk rose to become [[Sultan of Egypt]].<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref>David Nicole ''The Mamluks 1250–1570''</ref> The Mamluks in medieval Egypt were predominantly of [[Aq Qoyunlu|White Turkic]] and [[Circassians|Circassian]] origins,<ref name="Levanoni 2010"/><ref name="ReferenceA"/> and most of them descended from [[History of slavery in the Muslim world|enslaved]] Christians.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> After they were taken from their families, they became renegades.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Because Egyptian Mamluks were enslaved Christians, [[Islam and politics|Muslim rulers]] and [[Ulama|clerics]] did not believe they were true believers of Islam despite the fact that they were deployed for fighting in wars on behalf of several Islamic kingdoms as slave-soldiers.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

By 1200, [[Saladin]]'s brother [[Al-Adil|al-ʿĀdil]] succeeded in securing control over the whole empire by defeating and killing or imprisoning his brothers and nephews in turn. With each victory, al-ʿĀdil incorporated the defeated Mamluk retinue into his own. This process was repeated at al-ʿĀdil's death in 1218, and at his son [[Al-Kamil|al-Kāmil]]'s death in 1238. The Ayyubids became increasingly surrounded by the Mamluks, who acted semi-autonomously as regional ''[[atabeg]]s''. The Mamluks increasingly became involved in the internal [[Court (royal)|court]] politics of the kingdom itself as various factions used them as allies.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

===French attack and Mamluk takeover===
{{Main|Bahri Mamluks}}

In June 1249, the [[Seventh Crusade]] under [[Louis IX of France]] landed in Egypt and took [[Damietta]]. After the Egyptian troops retreated at first, the sultan had more than 50 commanders hanged as [[Desertion|deserters]].

When the Egyptian sultan [[as-Salih Ayyub]] died, the power passed briefly to his son [[al-Muazzam Turanshah]] and then his favorite wife [[Shajar al-Durr]], a [[Turkish people|Turk]] according to most historians, while others say she was an [[Armenians|Armenian]]. She took control with Mamluk support and launched a counterattack against the French. Troops of the [[Bahri Mamluks|Bahri]] commander [[Baibars]] defeated Louis's troops. The king delayed his retreat too long and was captured by the Mamluks in March 1250. He agreed to pay a ransom of 400,000 ''livres tournois'' to gain release (150,000 livres were never paid).<ref>[[Thomas F. Madden|Madden, Thomas F.]] ''Crusades: The Illustrated History''. 1st ed. Ann Arbor: [[University of Michigan Press]], 2005. p. 159</ref>

Because of political pressure for a male leader, [[Shajar al-Durr|Shajar]] married the Mamluk commander, [[Aybak]]. He was assassinated in his bath. In the ensuing power struggle, [[regent|viceregent]] [[Qutuz]], also a Mamluk, took over. He formally founded the [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluke Sultanate]] and the [[Bahri Mamluks|Bahri mamluk dynasty]].

The first Mamluk dynasty was named Bahri after the name of one of the regiments, the ''Bahriyyah'' or River Island regiment. Its name referred to their center on [[Rhoda Island]] in the [[Nile]]. The regiment consisted mainly of [[Kipchaks]] and [[Cumans]].{{cn|date=April 2023}}

[[File:Bowl, Syria, 1350s-1400s, glass gilded and enameled - Freer Gallery of Art - DSC05255.JPG|thumb|left|Mamluk-Syrian glassware vessel from the 14th century; in the course of trade, the middle vase shown ended up in [[Yemen]] and then China.]]

===Relationship with the Mongols===
When the [[Mongol Empire]]'s troops of [[Hulagu Khan]] sacked [[Siege of Baghdad (1258)|Baghdad in 1258]] and advanced towards Syria, the Mamluk emir [[Baibars]] left Damascus for [[Cairo]]. There he was welcomed by Sultan [[Qutuz]].<ref>[[Al-Maqrizi]], p. 509/vol. 1, Al Selouk Leme'refatt Dewall al-Melouk, Dar al-kotob, 1997.</ref> After taking Damascus, Hulagu demanded that Qutuz surrender Egypt. Qutuz had Hulagu's envoys killed and, with Baibars' help, mobilized his troops.

When [[Möngke Khan]] died in action against the [[Song dynasty#Southern Song, 1127–1279|Southern Song]], Hulagu pulled the majority of his forces out of Syria to attend the [[kurultai]] (funeral ceremony). He left his lieutenant, the Christian [[Kitbuqa]], in charge with a token force of about 18,000 men as a garrison.<ref>David Chambers, ''The Devil's Horsemen'', Atheneum, 1979. pp. 153–155</ref> The Mamluk army, led by Qutuz, drew the reduced [[Ilkhanate]] army into an ambush near the [[Orontes River]], routed them at the [[Battle of Ain Jalut]] in 1260, and captured and executed Kitbuqa.

After this great triumph, Qutuz was assassinated by conspiring Mamluks. It was widely said that Baibars, who seized power, had been involved in the assassination plot. In the following centuries, the Mamluks ruled discontinuously, with an average span of seven years.

The Mamluks defeated the Ilkhanids a second time in the [[First Battle of Homs]] and began to drive them back east. In the process they consolidated their power over Syria, fortified the area, and formed mail routes and diplomatic connections among the local princes. Baibars' troops attacked [[Acre, Israel#Arab rule and the Crusades|Acre]] in 1263, captured [[Caesarea Maritima|Caesarea]] in 1265, and took [[Antioch]] in 1268.

[[File:Siege of Tripoli Painting (1289).jpg|thumb|upright|Mamluks attacking at the [[Fall of Tripoli (1289)|Fall of Tripoli]] in 1289]]
Mamluks also defeated new Ilkhanate attacks in Syria in 1271 and 1281 (the [[Second Battle of Homs]]). They were defeated by the Ilkhanids and their Christian allies at the [[Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar]] in 1299. Soon after that the Mamluks defeated the Ilkhanate again in 1303/1304 and 1312. Finally, the Ilkhanids and the Mamluks signed a treaty of peace in 1323.

===Burji dynasty===
{{Main|Burji Mamluks}}
By the late fourteenth century, the majority of the Mamluk ranks were made up of [[Circassians]] from the [[North Caucasus]] region, whose young males had been frequently captured for slavery.<ref name=GPG/> In 1382 the [[Burji dynasty]] took over when [[Barquq]] was proclaimed sultan. The name "Burji" referred to their center at the [[citadel]] of [[Cairo]].

Barquq became an enemy of [[Timur]], who threatened to invade Syria. Timur invaded Syria, defeating the Mamluk army, and he sacked Aleppo and captured Damascus. The Ottoman sultan, [[Bayezid I]], then invaded Syria. After Timur's death in 1405, the Mamluk sultan [[an-Nasir Faraj]] regained control of Syria. Frequently facing rebellions by local [[emir]]s, he was forced to abdicate in 1412. In 1421, Egypt was attacked by the [[Kingdom of Cyprus]], but the Egyptians forced the Cypriotes to acknowledge the suzerainty of the Egyptian sultan [[Barsbay]]. During Barsbay's reign, Egypt's population became greatly reduced from what it had been a few centuries before; it had one-fifth the number of towns.<!-- Why? disease, famine, warfare? -->

[[Al-Ashraf Sayf-ad-Din Inal|Al-Ashraf]] came to power in 1453. He had friendly relations with the Ottoman Empire, which captured [[Constantinople]] later that year, causing great rejoicings in Muslim Egypt. However, under the reign of [[Sayf ad-Din Khushqadam|Khushqadam]], Egypt began a struggle with the Ottoman sultanate. In 1467, sultan [[Qaitbay]] offended the Ottoman sultan [[Bayezid II]], whose brother was poisoned. Bayezid II seized [[Adana]], [[Tarsus, Mersin|Tarsus]] and other places within Egyptian territory, but was eventually defeated. Qaitbay also tried to help the [[Islam in Spain|Muslims in Spain]], who were suffering after the Catholic [[Reconquista]], by threatening the Christians in Syria, but he had little effect in Spain. He died in 1496, several hundred thousand ducats in debt to the great trading families of the [[Republic of Venice]].

===Portuguese–Mamluk Wars===
[[Vasco da Gama]] in 1497 sailed around the [[Cape of Good Hope]] and pushed his way east across the Indian Ocean to the shores of [[Zamorin|Malabar]] and [[Kozhikode]]. There he [[Portuguese-Mamluk naval war|attacked the fleets]] that carried freight and Muslim pilgrims from India to the [[Red Sea]], and struck terror into the potentates all around. Various engagements took place. Cairo's Mamluk sultan [[Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri]] was affronted at the attacks around the Red Sea, the loss of tolls and traffic, the indignities to which [[Mecca]] and its port were subjected, and above all for losing one of his ships. He vowed vengeance upon Portugal, first sending monks from the [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]] as envoys, he threatened [[Pope Julius II]] that if he did not check [[Manuel I of Portugal]] in his depredations on the Indian Sea, he would destroy all Christian holy places.<ref>Palmira Johnson Brummett, [https://books.google.com/books?id=bTnK1csz0swC&dq=Mamluk+pope+portuguese&pg=PA113 ''Ottoman Seapower and Levantine Diplomacy in the Age of Discovery''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405223409/https://books.google.com/books?id=bTnK1csz0swC&dq=Mamluk+pope+portuguese&pg=PA113 |date=5 April 2023 }}, SUNY Press, 1994, {{ISBN|978-0-7914-1701-0}}</ref>

The rulers of [[Gujarat]] in India and [[Yemen]] also turned for help to the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt. They wanted a fleet to be armed in the Red Sea that could protect their important trading sea routes from Portuguese attacks. [[Jeddah]] was soon fortified as a harbor of refuge so [[Arabia]] and the Red Sea were protected. But the fleets in the Indian Ocean were still at the mercy of the enemy.

The last Mamluk sultan, Al-Ghawri, fitted out a fleet of 50 vessels. As Mamluks had little expertise in naval warfare, he sought help from the Ottomans to develop this naval enterprise.<ref>Andrew James McGregor, [https://books.google.com/books?id=QZpWx-dgbYcC&dq=Mamluk+pope+portuguese&pg=PA20 ''A Military History of Modern Egypt: From the Ottoman Conquest to the Ramadan War''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404171644/https://books.google.com/books?id=QZpWx-dgbYcC&dq=Mamluk+pope+portuguese&pg=PA20 |date=4 April 2023 }}, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006 {{ISBN|978-0-275-98601-8}}</ref> In 1508 at the [[Battle of Chaul (1508)|Battle of Chaul]], the Mamluk fleet defeated the Portuguese viceroy's son [[Lourenço de Almeida]].

But, in the following year, the Portuguese won the [[Battle of Diu (1509)|Battle of Diu]] and wrested the port city of [[Diu, India|Diu]] from the [[Gujarat Sultanate]]. Some years after, [[Afonso de Albuquerque]] attacked [[Siege of Aden|Aden]], and Egyptian troops suffered disaster from the Portuguese in Yemen. Al-Ghawri fitted out a new fleet to punish the enemy and protect the Indian trade. Before it could exert much power, Egypt had lost its sovereignty. The Ottoman Empire took over Egypt and the Red Sea, together with [[Mecca]] and all its Arabian interests.

===Ottomans and the end of the Mamluk Sultanate===
The Ottoman Sultan [[Bayezid II]] was engaged in warfare in southern Europe when a new era of hostility with Egypt began in 1501. It arose out of the relations with the [[Safavid dynasty]] in [[Persia]]. Shah [[Ismail I]] sent an embassy to the [[Republic of Venice]] via Syria, inviting Venice to ally with Persia and recover its territory taken by the Ottomans. [[Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri|Mameluk Egyptian sultan Al-Ghawri]] was charged by [[Selim I]] with giving the Persian envoys passage through Syria on their way to Venice and harboring refugees. To appease him, Al-Ghawri placed in confinement the Venetian merchants then in Syria and Egypt, but after a year released them.<ref name="James Waterson, The Mamluks">James Waterson, "The Mamluks"</ref>

After the [[Battle of Chaldiran]] in 1514, Selim attacked the bey of [[Dulkadirids]], as Egypt's vassal had stood aloof, and sent his head to Al-Ghawri. Now secure against Persia, in 1516 he formed a great army for the conquest of Egypt, but gave out that he intended further attacks on Persia.

In 1515, Selim began the war which led to the conquest of Egypt and its dependencies. Mamluk cavalry proved no match for the Ottoman artillery and [[Janissaries|Janissary infantry]]. On 24 August 1516, at the [[Battle of Marj Dabiq]], Sultan Al-Ghawri was killed. Syria passed into Turkish possession, an event welcomed in many places as it was seen as deliverance from the Mameluks.<ref name="James Waterson, The Mamluks"/>

The Mamluk Sultanate survived in Egypt until 1517, when Selim captured Cairo on 20 January. Although not in the same form as under the Sultanate, the Ottoman Empire retained the Mamluks as an Egyptian ruling class and the Mamluks and the Burji family succeeded in regaining much of their influence, but as vassals of the Ottomans.<ref name="James Waterson, The Mamluks"/><ref>Thomas Philipp, Ulrich Haarmann (1998). The Mamluks in Egyptian Politics and Society</ref>

===Independence from the Ottomans===
{{Main|History of Ottoman Egypt}}
[[File:Carle Vernet Mameluck en Attaque.jpg|thumb|Charge of the Mamluk [[cavalry]] by [[Carle Vernet]]]]

In 1768, [[Ali Bey Al-Kabir]] declared independence from the Ottomans. However, the Ottomans crushed the movement and retained their position after his defeat. By this time new slave recruits were introduced from Georgia in the Caucasus.

====Napoleon invades====
{{Main|French campaign in Egypt and Syria}}

[[File:Myrbach-Charge of the Mamluks.jpg|thumb|left|Charge of the Mamluks during the [[Battle of Austerlitz]] by [[Felician Myrbach]]. An elite body of cavalry whom the French encountered during their [[French Campaign in Egypt and Syria|campaign in Egypt in 1798]], the Mamluks could trace their lineage of service to the Ottomans back to the mid-13th century.]]
In 1798, the ruling [[French Directory|Directory]] of the [[French First Republic|Republic of France]] authorised a campaign in "The Orient" to protect French trade interests and undermine Britain's access to India. To this end, [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] led an [[Armée d'Orient (1798)|Armée d'Orient]] to Egypt.

The French defeated a Mamluk army in the [[Battle of the Pyramids]] and drove the survivors out to [[Upper Egypt]]. The Mamluks relied on massed cavalry charges, changed only by the addition of [[musket]]s. The French infantry [[Infantry square|formed square]] and held firm. Despite multiple victories and an initially successful expedition into Syria, mounting conflict in Europe and the earlier defeat of the supporting French fleet by the British [[Royal Navy]] at the [[Battle of the Nile]] decided the issue.

On 14 September 1799, General [[Jean-Baptiste Kléber]] established a mounted company of Mamluk auxiliaries and Syrian [[Janissaries]] from Turkish troops captured at the [[Siege of Acre (1799)|siege of Acre]]. [[Jacques-François Menou|Menou]] reorganized the company on 7 July 1800, forming three companies of 100 men each and renaming it the "Mamluks de la République". In 1801 General [[Jean Rapp]] was sent to Marseille to organize a squadron of 250 Mamluks. On 7 January 1802 the previous order was canceled and the squadron reduced to 150 men. The list of effectives on 21 April 1802 reveals three officers and 155 of other rank. By decree of 25 December 1803 the Mamluks were organized into a company attached to the [[Chasseurs|Chasseurs-à-Cheval]] of the [[Imperial Guard (Napoleon I)|Imperial Guard]] (see [[Mamelukes of the Imperial Guard]]).

[[File:El dos de mayo de 1808 en Madrid rdit.jpg|thumb|''[[The Second of May 1808]]'': the charge of the Mamelukes of the Imperial Guard in [[Madrid]], by [[Francisco de Goya]]]]
Napoleon left with his personal guard in late 1799. His successor in Egypt, General [[Jean-Baptiste Kléber]], was assassinated on 14 June 1800. Command of the Army in Egypt fell to [[Jacques-François Menou]]. Isolated and out of supplies, Menou surrendered to the British in 1801.

===After Napoleon===
After the departure of French troops in 1801 the Mamluks continued their struggle for independence; this time against the Ottoman Empire. In 1803, Mamluk leaders [[Ibrahim Bey (Mamluk)|Ibrahim Bey]] and [[Osman Bey al-Bardisi]] wrote to the [[Russian Empire|Russia]]n consul-general, asking him to mediate with the Sultan to allow them to negotiate for a cease-fire, and a return to their homeland Georgia. The Russian ambassador in [[Istanbul|Constantinople]] refused however to intervene, because of nationalist unrest in Georgia that might have been encouraged by a Mamluk return.<ref name="James Waterson, The Mamluks"/>

In 1805, the population of Cairo rebelled. This provided a chance for the Mamluks to seize power, but internal friction prevented them from exploiting this opportunity. In 1806, the Mamluks defeated the Turkish forces in several clashes. in June the rival parties concluded an agreement by which [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt|Muhammad Ali]], (appointed as governor of Egypt on 26 March 1806), was to be removed and authority returned to the Mamluks. However, they were again unable to capitalize on this opportunity due to discord between factions. Muhammad Ali retained his authority.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

===End of power in Egypt===
[[File:Mamluks, Horace Vernet.jpg|thumb|[[Muhammad Ali's seizure of power#Defeat of the Mamluks|Massacre of the Mamelukes]] at the Cairo citadel in 1811.]]
[[File:Massacre of the Mamelukes at Cairo.png|thumb|''[[Massacre of the Mamelukes]]'' by [[Horace Vernet]], 1819]]
Muhammad Ali knew that he would have to deal with the Mamluks if he wanted to control Egypt. They were still the feudal owners of Egypt and their land was still the source of wealth and power. However, the economic strain of sustaining the military manpower necessary to defend the Mamluks's system from the Europeans and Turks would eventually weaken them to the point of collapse.<ref>Abu-Lughod, Janet L. ''Before European Hegemony The World System A.D. 1250–1350''. New York: Oxford UP, 1991. 213 pp.</ref>

On 1 March 1811, Muhammad Ali invited all of the leading Mamluks to his palace to celebrate the declaration of war against the Wahhabis in Arabia. Between 600 and 700 Mamluks paraded for this purpose in [[Cairo]]. Muhammad Ali's forces killed almost all of these near the Al-Azab gates in a narrow road down from Mukatam Hill. This ambush came to be known as the [[Muhammad Ali's seizure of power|Massacre of the Citadel]]. According to contemporary reports, only one Mamluk, whose name is given variously as Amim (also Amyn), or Heshjukur (a [[Besleney]]), survived when he forced his horse to leap from the walls of the citadel.<ref>For the use of the name Amim, see Giovanni Finati, ''Narrative of the Life and Adventure of Giovanni Finati native of Ferrara'', 1830; for Heshjukur, Mustafa Mahir, ''Marks of the Caucasian Tribes and Some Stories and Notable Events Related to Their Leaders'', Boulaq, Cairo, 1892</ref>

During the following week an estimated 3,000 Mamluks and their relatives were killed throughout Egypt, by Muhammad's regular troops. In the citadel of Cairo alone more than 1,000 Mamluks died.

Despite Muhammad Ali's destruction of the Mamluks in Egypt, a party of them escaped and fled south into what is now [[Sudan]]. In 1811, these Mamluks established a state at [[Dunqulah]] in the [[Kingdom of Sennar|Sennar]] as a base for their slave trading. In 1820, the sultan of Sennar informed Muhammad Ali that he was unable to comply with a demand to expel the Mamluks. In response, the [[Pasha]] sent 4,000 troops to invade Sudan, clear it of Mamluks, and reclaim it for Egypt. The Pasha's forces received the submission of the Kashif, dispersed the Dunqulah Mamluks, conquered [[Kordofan]], and accepted Sennar's surrender from the last [[Funj]] sultan, [[Badi VII]].