Storia dellEgitto MameluccoAlla morte dell'ultimosultanoayyubide,al-Slih Ayyb, ucciso dai suoi stessiMamelucchi, il capo di questi ultimi,Al-Muizz Izz ad-Dn Aybak, assunse il potere, prima comeatabeg(tutore) dell'eredeal-Mu'azzam Turnshhancora impubere, poi direttamente attraverso il matrimonio con lavedovaShajar al-Durr, instaurando cos una nuova epoca nel governo dell'Egitto.Il sultanato mamelucco inizi presto un conflitto con laSiria, ma dovettero presto assistere alla crescente minaccia costituita daiMongoli:Baybarse il sultanoQutuzriuscirono a sconfiggere nel1260l'armata delKhanHulagunellabattaglia di Ayn Jlt, conquistando l'intera Siria, ad esclusione dei residui degliStati crociati. La distruzione diBaghdadda parte dei Mongoli, inoltre, consent ai Mamelucchi di mettere le mani sulcaliffato abbaside: da quel momento, infatti, i califfi, rifugiatisi al Cairo, rimasero sotto il controllo dei Sultani d'Egitto, conferendo a questi ultimi un enorme prestigio nel mondo islamico.Nel1291KhalilpreseAcri, l'ultima delle citt crociate, mentre sotto il sultanato della dinastiaBahriIl Cairosi trasformava da misera cittadina in una delle maggioricapitalidel mondo islamico.Nel1347, tuttavia, l'incredibile sviluppo economico e politico venne bruscamente arrestato dal diffondersi in Egitto dellaMorte Nera.Nel1377, poi una rivolta partita dalla Siria port al potere la dinastiacircassadelBurji, che presero definitivamente Il Cairo nel1390.I nuovi signori dell'Egitto passarono quindi a scontrarsi con il potente impero diTamerlano, procedendo poi nella conquista diCipro.Le epidemie dipeste bubbonicacontinuarono tuttavia a piagare a ondate l'Egitto sino agli inizi delCinquecento, minandone le capacit, definitivamente colpite sul finire delQuattrocentodalla crisi dei commerci provocata dalla scoperta delle nuove rotte circumafricane aperte daiportoghesiche, intercettando direttamente inIndiaedArabiale preziosespezieeseteorientali, inaridirono gli empori mediterranei ed in particolareAlessandria d'Egitto, con gravi ripercussioni sui commerci con lerepubbliche marinareitaliane.Il 20 gennaio1517gliOttomanidiSelim Isconfissero i Mamelucchi, conquistando e sottomettendo Il Cairo e l'Egitto ed assumendo il califfato.Tuttavia i Mamelucchi rimasero la classe dirigente dell'Egitto anche sotto i nuovi dominatori, rimanendo al potere in qualit divassallidell'Impero Ottomano.Origin[edit]Al-Salih Ayyub (124049), the last of the Ayyubid sultans, imported a vast number of slave boys from Central Asia and Caucasus, those who became known as Mamluks.[11]Mamluks, the title which translates to "owned slaves" distinguished this group fromgaryaandghulam, which referred to household slaves. After thorough training in various fields such as martial arts, court etiquette and Islamic sciences, these slaves were freed. However, they were still expected to remain loyal to their master and serve his household. The Mamluks, who continued to be called freedmen, were equipped with the most advance Eastern military technology. Such technology included stirrups and the Turkish re-curved composite bow, which were used to defeat lumbering crusader knights.[11]Rise to power[edit] Mamluk regiments constituted the backbone of the Egyptian military under theAyyubid Dynasty. Eachsultan, and high-rankingemirhad his private corps, and the Sultanas-Salih Ayyub(r. 12401249) had especially relied on this means to maintaining power. His mamluks, numbering between 800 and 1,000 horsemen, were called the Bahris, after the Arabic wordbahr(), meaning sea or large river, because their barracks were located on the island of Rawda in the Nile. They were mostly drawn from among theCumans-Kipchakswho controlled the steppes north of theBlack Sea,[12]andCircassiansandGeorgiansof theCaucasusregion. Mamluks in the empire retained a particularly strong sense of Cuman identity, to the degree that the biography of SultanBaibarsfocused on his birth and early years in Desht-i-Kipchak ("Steppe of the Kipchaks"/Cumania). The historian Dimitri Korobeinikov relates how Baibars story sums up the tragic fate of many Cumans after theBattle of Kalka Riverand theMongol invasion of Europe. Roman Kovalev states that this story can further be seen as a mechanism for the preservation of a collective memory broadly reflecting a sense of Cuman identity in theMamluk Sultanate.[13]In 1249Louis IX of Franceled acrusadeon an invasion of Egypt, capturingDamiettaand then proceeding slowly southward. As they advanced, as-Salih Ayyub died and was succeeded by his sonal-Muazzam Turanshah, but before Turanshah could arrive at the front, the Bahri mamluks defeated the crusaders at theBattle of Al Mansurahand captured Louis, effectively ending the crusade. Turanshah proceeded to place his own entourage and especially his own mamluks, called Mu`azzamis, in positions of authority to the detriment of Bahri interests. Four weeks after Louis' capture, on May 2, 1250, a group of Bahris assassinated Turanshah.[14]Wars with Mongols and Crusaders[edit]Main article:Mongol invasions of SyriaFollowing the death of Turanshah a ten-year period of political instability in Egypt and Syria ensued as various factions competed for control. In 1254, when a rival faction under the leadership ofQutuzbecame powerful, most of the Bahris fled Cairo and took service with Ayyubidamirsin Syria. Meanwhile, theMongolsunder the command ofHulaguinvaded the Middle East in force. They sackedBaghdadin 1258 and proceeded westward, capturingAleppo, andDamascus. Qutuz and the Bahris agreed to put aside their differences to face the common threat. They met a contingent of Mongols at theBattle of Ain Jalutand defeated them. With the Mongol threat temporarily over, rivalries among the mamluks revived, andBaibars, a leading Bahri, assassinated Qutuz and claimed the sultanate.Change in regime[edit]Main article:Burji dynastyBy the late fourteenth century,Circassiansfrom theNorth Caucasusregion had become the majority in the Mamluk ranks.[15]In 1377 a revolt broke out in Syria which spread to Egypt, and the government was taken over by the CircassiansBarakahandBarquq; In 1382 the last Bahri SultanAl-Salih Hajjiwas dethroned, thus ending the Bahri dynasty, and Barquq was proclaimed sultan. Barquq was expelled in 1389 but recaptured Cairo in 1390. Permanently in power he founded what came to be called the Burji dynasty.[16]