Overview
Mamluks
Quick Reference
A regime controlled by slave soldiers (mamluk means “owned” or “slave”) that governed Egypt, Syria, southeastern Asia Minor, and western Arabia from 1250 to 1517. It flourished as the undisputed military power of the central Muslim world. The Mamluk sultan Baybars (r. 1260–77) spent much of his reign battling the Crusader states in Syria-Palestine and securing his frontiers against invasions from Ilkhanid Iran. Until 1340, when the Black Death decimated the population of Egypt and Syria, the regime enjoyed a prosperous reign.
From: Mamluks in The Oxford Dictionary of Islam »