Mameluke

Mameluke (from Arabic mamluk, ‘possessed’ or ‘slave’) Name of two Egyptian dynasties. Mamelukes or slave soldiers were a distinctive feature of Islamic armies from the 9th century. Captured in childhood, they were trained in every branch of warfare and had an exacting academic education. Turkish and Mongol slaves were bodyguards of the Ayyubid sultan al-Salih (1240–49). On his death a popular power struggle developed and the Bahri mameluke generals elected one of their number as sultan al-Malik al Muizz. In 1291 the last Franks were driven from Egypt. The Turkish Bahri sultans recruited Burji slaves as bodyguards, stationing them in Cairo's citadel. These were chiefly Circassian (from the Caucasus). In 1390 they too usurped the sultanate under al-Malik an-Nasir. The Burji ruled until 1517. Mameluke rule extended over Egypt and Syria (including the present Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and western Arabia). There was an elaborate court, and a highly organized civil service and judiciary. Active encouragement of trade and commerce brought great prosperity throughout their dominions, as is witnessed by the splendid monuments which they built in Cairo and elsewhere. Their external trade reached across Africa as far as Mali and Guinea, and throughout the Indian Ocean as far as Java. In 1517 the Ottoman Turks captured Cairo and overthrew the Mamelukes. As Turkish power waned they re-established themselves as rulers. NAPOLEON defeated them in 1798 and they were brought down by Muhammad Ali in 1811.