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The Formation of an Ottoamn Egyptian Elite in the 18th Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2009

Gabriel Piterberg
Gabriel Piterberg
Affiliation:
Wolfson College Oxford, England
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Extract

The conquest of the Mamluk sultanate by the Ottoman Empire brought into confrontation two centers in the history of Islamic civilization. One, Asia Minor and southeast Europe, was the center of the Ottoman Empire. The other, Egypt, had been the core of the Mamluk sultanate for 2½ centuries (1250–1517). Both states were dominated by Turkish-speaking elites based on the institution of military slavery. In both cases this slave-recruited manpower was the backbone of the army, and, to a lesser extent, of the administration.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 22 , Issue 3 , August 1990 , pp. 275 - 289
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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References

Notes

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12 Ibid., p. 280.

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34 Ibid., fol. 13b.

35 Ibid.

36 Ibid., fols. 11a–1b.

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41 Shaw, Cezzar, fol. 14b. It should be pointed out that while modern historiography believes that mamluk-recruited manpower was chiefly Circassian, Cezzar asserts that it was mostly Georgian. A possible explanation for this discrepancy is the fact that in the Ottoman–Russian war of 1768–74 the empire may have lost traditional territories of mamluks′ recruitment, hence the misirh were forced to look for alternatives.

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63 A1-Khashshgb, Tadhkira, fols. 4a–4b.

64 Ibid., fol. 9b.

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