What was the Mamluk Sultanate?
It was the greatest Islamic empire of the middle ages, occupying lands from Egypt along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean to Syria and across the Red Sea. In Arabic, Mamluk means ‘owned’, and was used to describe non-Muslim slaves brought to Egypt to serve as soldiers in struggles between Islamic rulers, in part to avoid the religious prohibition of Muslim fighting Muslim. Many Mamluks converted and, slaves no longer, were able to attain high positions. Eventually Mamluks took power in Egypt. After defeating the Mongol armies in 1260, they annexed strongholds across the eastern Mediterranean and took control of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Cairo, the Mamluk capital, became the economic and cultural hub of the Islamic world. Architecture, manuscript illumination, textiles and glass-making evolved rich Mamluk styles that were influential even in Europe.
