Mamluk (Civ6)/Civilopedia

Although the term mamluk simply means “property” or “owned slave” in Arabic, most think of the military caste in medieval Islam as the only mamalik (the plural form) in history. They are certainly the most famous. Although there is disagreement among scholars, most agree that the mamluk slave-warriors arose during the reign of the Abbasid caliphs of Bagdad sometime around the 9th Century AD. These warriors were primarily of Kipchak, Circassian, Georgian, and Balkan tribes, captured or sold into slavery, and proved devoted converts to Islam, superb horsemen, and vicious adversaries. Over time the mamluks became a political power – as in Cairo where they established a sultanate – in many Muslim kingdoms, where they sometimes served as kingmakers (well, sultan-makers). So successful and influential was the mamluk caste that it survived 1000 years until wiped out by the Ottoman general Muhammad Ali Pasha in 1811.