By: Rashawn Zeigler
To start let's talk about how the world mamluks was born. Mamluks also, spelled Mameluke was a member of one of the slaves that has won political control of several Muslim states during the middle stages. The mamluks used their power to establish a dynasty that has ruled over Egypt and Syria from
1250-1517. As early as the 9th century ad. The use of mamluks component of Muslim armies became a distinct feature of Islamic civilization. Mamluks have succeeded in establishing a dynasty of their own in Egypt and India by the 13th century.
The mamluks dynasty had two phases. From 1250 to 1381 the Bahri clique produced the mamluks system, and from 1382 until 1517 the Burgi mamluks were dominant. The last Ayyubid sultan as-salih whom they served before overthrowing in 1250, the groups were named after the principal regiments provided by the mamluks. The mamluks were not native to Egypt but were always slave soldiers.
According to the principals mamluks couldn't pass their property to the kid/son, and yes indeed the sons were in theory denied the opportunity to serve in mamluks regiments, so there was a group that had to be replenished to outside sources. After the mamluks victory over the Mongols, Arab historian Abu shama said that “the people of the steppe had been destroyed by the people of the steppe”. At the age of 13 boys were taken from areas to the north of the Persian Empire, and they were trained to become a great elite force of soldiers for the sultan or higher lords own use. The boys would be sent by the caliph or sultan to enforce his rule as far afield as Spain, also they were sold to the Islamic government of the region.
There is an agreement that the mamluks state reached its height under the Turkish sultans and then fell into a prolonged phase of decline under the Circassia’s., to protect Egypt’s rear, Mamluks sought to extend their power into the Arabian Peninsula and into Anatolia and Armenia, also they strove to
establish their presence in Nubia. The mamluks failed to find an able or successful successor after the latter's death weakened the strength and stability of their realm. The increased importance assigned to ethnic affiliation was only one cause of decline. In the mamluks period, it was known for its achievements in historical writing and for abortive attempts at religious reform. As builders of religious, schools, monasteries and, above all, tombs, the mamluks endowed cario with some of its most impressive monuments.
More than 500 years the mamluks were still Egypt elite fighting soldiers when napoleon Bonaparte of France launched his 1798 invasion. Bonaparte had dreams, plans such as driving overland through the Middle East and seizing British India, but something came up, the British navy had cut of Bonaparte supply route to Egypt. However, by that time the mamluks were outmatched, outnumber, and outgunned. Also the mamluks played an important role in several important historical events. In 1249, the French king planned on launching an attack against the Muslim world. Instead of taking the city, however, the crusaders ended up running out of supplies and starving themselves, the mamluks wiped out Louise’s weekend army. The loyalty within the mamluks regiments sometimes allowed them to band together and bring down the rulers themselves, installing one of their own as sultan instead.
By the 18th century the sultan no longer had the power to collect young Christian boys from Circassia as slaves, and trained them as janissaries. While mamluks were purchased as property, their status was above ordinary slaves, who were not allowed to carry weapons or perform certain tasks. They mamluks went out with a bang they defeated the Mongols and the crusaders and established a dynasty that lasted 300 years. The mamluks ruled Egypt and Syria from 1250 until 1517, when their dynasty was extinguished by the ottomans.
Sources
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopedia. “Mamlūk.” Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 2018, Britannica/topic/Mamluk.
Morris, Neil. Ancient Egypt. Peter Bedrick Books, 2000.
Waterson, James. “Who Were the Mamluks?” History Today, 2018, www.historytoday.com/miscellanies/who-were-mamluks.
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The introduction was mediocre, and there were many grammar, capitalization, and spelling mistakes.
Title was interesting but the introduction was kinda weak. Although u made up for it because of ur information and sources, joy to read!
This was a very interesting and definitively something i didn't know about.only thing is i got confused a lot about what things were talking about because theirs no subtitles.i always didn't feel as if the some of the pictures matched up with the text.but overall good story.
Really like your article. I think the way you formatted your essay really well.
Very cool and interesting article, I never knew that they started out as slaves. And its cool seeing how different the Mamelukes look from European Knights in the pictures. And its weird to imagine people so young being taken away to train and fight.