It is two different Turkish Sultanates risen in Egypt, Syria and India. As their sultans were slave originated; they were named as “memluk” which means “slave” in Arabic.

The Memluks are classified into two as; the Memluks of Egypt and the Memluks of India.

Memluks of India; was established by Aybek’ut Turki, in 1206. The most famous Sultans of them were, Iltutmus and Balaban. Raziye Hatun who was the fifth sovereign of the sultanate was the only female monarch in the Turkish history. The state’s official language was Turkish.

Memluks of Egypt; was set up by Izzuiddin Aybek, in 1250. Kutuz succeeded him and defeated the Mongols, in 1260. Sultan Baybars replaced him and defeated the Crusaders. The capital was Cairo and they extended their territories from the Taurus Mountains to Libya desert and from Euphrates river and to Hegaz, Sudan, Yemen and Hadramut.

The Ottoman-Memluk conflicts had risen during the Sultanate of Mehmed the Conqueror and Sultan Selim I ended these conflicts by defeating them in the Mercidabik Battle, in 1516. The Memluks battled against the Ottoman Army commanded by Sultan Selim again, in Ridaniye, in 1517 and they were defeated and their lands were annexed in to the Ottoman territories. The last Memluk Sultan Tumanbay was executed, in Cairo.

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