Medieval Egypt
The Ottoman Empire, 1517-1760

Medieval Egypt Ottoman Empire

When speaking of Medieval Egyptian history, the subject of the Ottoman Empire is quite inevitable. The origins of the Ottoman Empire go back to the Turkish-speaking tribes who crossed the frontiers into Arab lands beginning in the 10th century. These Turkish tribes established themselves in Baghdad and Anatolia, but they were destroyed by the Mongols in the thirteenth century.

In the wake of the Mongol invasion, petty Turkish dynasties called emirates were formed in Anatolia. The leader of one of those dynasties was Osman (1280-1324), the founder of the Ottoman Empire.

The Ottoman Expansion
In the 13th century, his emirate was one of many; by the 16th century, it had become an empire, one of the largest and longest lived in world history. By the 14th century, the Ottomans already had a substantial empire in Eastern Europe.

In 1453 they conquered Constantinople, the Byzantine capital, which became the Ottoman capital and was renamed Istanbul. Between 1512 and 1520, the Ottomans added the Arab provinces, including Egypt, to their empire.

In 1517 Sultan Selim I of the Ottoman Empire (aka Selim the Grim) conquered Egypt, defeating the Mamluk forces at Ar Raydaniyah, outside Cairo. The victorious Selim I left behind one of his most trusted collaborators, Khair Bey, as the ruler of Egypt. He kept his court in the citadel, the ancient residence of the rulers of the Medieval Egypt Ottoman Empire. Although Selim I did away with the Mamluk sultanate, neither he nor his successors succeeded in extinguishing Mamluk power and influence in Egypt.

The Alabaster Mosque at the Citadel, Cairo
Medieval Egypt Ottoman Empire

Only in the first century of Ottoman rule was the governor of Egypt able to perform his tasks without the interference of the Mamluk beys (bey was the highest rank among the Mamluks).

The Mamluks reply
During the latter decades of the 16th century and the early 17th century, a series of revolts by various elements of the garrison troops occurred. During these years, there was also a revival within the Mamluk military structure.

By the middle of the 17th century, political supremacy had passed to the beys. As the historian Daniel Crecelius has written, from that point on the history of Ottoman Egypt can be explained as the struggle between the Ottomans and the Mamluks for control of the administration and, hence, the revenues of Egypt, and the competition among rival Mamluk houses for control of the beylicate.

This struggle affected Egyptian history until the late 18th century when one Mamluk bey gained an unprecedented control over the military and political structures and ousted the Ottoman governor.

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