Mamluk Caliphate (Varna)

*If you're looking for the country in the Cumania Minecraft Server, see Mamluk Caliphate.*

The **Mamluk Caliphate** is one of the two protagonists of Season 1 of Brazilian Mapping's Alternate History of Europe series, alongside Venice.

## Political Info

### Subjects

Tunis, Armenia, Baghdad, Tlemcen, Karaman, + others TBA

## Foundation

### Episode V

In 1474, just as Poland declares war on the dying Golden Horde (Great Russian War), the Mamluk Sultanate recognises themself as the strongest Islamic nation, and declares that a new Caliphate is born.

"The Rashiduns, the Umayyads, the Abbasids, the Fatimids and the Almohads... all names that went into history. And now, the name of the sixth caliphate shall follow them... *the Mamluk Caliphate.*"

- Mamluk Caliphate, 1474.

The Caliphate celebrates this reform by invading the remainder of the Upper Nile, and defeating the Hawwara tribes occupying the area. The Mamluks planned to invade Cyprus at the same time, but a Rumi-Byzantine army had already captured the Cypriot coasts, so the island became a condominium between Rum and Byzantium.

## Rise

### Episode VI

On November 9th, 1478, the Mamluks signed a Treaty in Tunis, forming the Maghrebi League.

### Episode VII

1487 saw a third War of Conquest by the Mamluks, against Yemen and Ethiopia. A Mamluk victory allowed for the annexation of Yemen and the Ethiopian coast. With total control over the Red Sea, they began blocking the spice trade between Europe and Asia from July 1488 onwards.

### Episode VIII

The Fourth War of Conquest took place in mid-October 1495. The Mamluks spearheaded an Armenian invasion of the South Caucasus. Armenia took over Georgia, Shirvan, and a few other Azeri states.

## Tension

### Episode IX

Going into 1503, Morocco discovers smugglers hired by the Iberians and Italians, and kicks them out. Rumours are floating that the Iberians found a new route to India, so the Mamluks push Morocco to investigate. In the meantime, they partition Circassia with the Great Horde in 1504.

When Morocco attempts to discover the Iberian spice route to India, their fleet is sunk by pirates. Venice had funded them, but the Mamluks suspect Castile instead.

In 1506, Sardinia was busy helping Naples to consolidate control over Provence and Sicily, so the Mamluks fund a Tlemceni uprising in Algiers, which takes over most of the Sardinian colony before reinforcements arrive to put down the rebellion.

November 8th, 1509 was a pivotal moment in the series. This was the day when the Mamluks officially declared war on Byzantium, after years of planning. Rum immediately joined the Byzantine side, and the Mamluks called in the Maghrebi League to go to war. Castile, Portugalicia and the Italian League then declared war, and the **Great Mediterranean War** began.

## Dissolution

The Caliphate met its end in September 1517, when King Ferrante I of the newly formed Italic Union killed Sayf ad-Din Qaitbay II in a duel. The written accounts of 1529 by Milanese writer Giovanni Morosini record the occurrence of a civil war before the collapse of the Sixth Caliphate.

As the Ayyubids returned to power in Egypt, it was later discovered that a Mamluk Horde was still terrorising the Nile River even after Qaitbay's death.