Military slaves of mainly Turkish and then Caucasian origin, the Mamluks built their legend on their warrior power. For over 250 years, between 1250 and 1517, they gave life to the Mamluk Sultanate, a vast territory that included Egypt, Bilad al-Sham (Syria, Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, Jordan), part of eastern Anatolia and the Hejaz in Arabia, where Mecca and Medina are located. A people who conquered the last strongholds of the Crusaders, fought and repelled the threat of the Mongols, survived the invasions of Tamerlane and kept at bay the threatening neighbors Turcoman and Ottoman. At the same time, the Mamluk Sultanate was a plural society where women, and Christian and Jewish minorities, had a place. A “Middle Kingdom” where Europe, Africa and Asia converged and where people and ideas, goods and art circulated freely.
