13th century – 16th century
Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean
Mamluk Egypt was the powerful Egyptian sultanate that shaped relations with Nubia, Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa, the Maghrib, and the western Sudan. It acted as a protector of Ethiopian Muslims, maintained major commercial networks, supported Egyptian merchants abroad, and used gold from the Sudan in its coinage. Its political reach and commercial influence varied across Africa.
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The Story
Mamluk Egypt appears as the most powerful Muslim power in the extract’s northeastern African world. Its government inherited major responsibilities toward neighboring Christian and Muslim societies, especially Nubia and Ethiopia. Yet its influence was uneven: it was strongest in Nubia, weaker in Ethiopia, and still more limited farther south and along the East African coast.
The Mamluk government claimed to protect Ethiopian Muslims and sometimes intervened through the Coptic patriarch on behalf of co-religionists persecuted by Ethiopian kings. At the same time, Egypt pursued a conciliatory policy because it valued trade with Christian Ethiopia and could not effectively assist the Muslim states south of the Ethiopian highlands. Formal diplomatic relations with those states were rare, despite religious and educational contacts.
Mamluk commercial activity extended through Red Sea ports, Zeila, the Maghrib, and the Sudan. Egyptian exports included textiles, weapons, glassware, spices, perfumes, and metal goods, while Sudanese gold from Bambuk and Bure reached Egypt in increasing quantities and was used to mint Mamluk coins. The extract also emphasizes that Italian, Catalan, and later Portuguese competition reduced the flow of western Sudanese gold to Egypt.
13th century – 16th century
Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean
Mamluk Egypt was the powerful Egyptian sultanate that shaped relations with Nubia, Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa, the Maghrib, and the western Sudan. It acted as a protector of Ethiopian Muslims, maintained major commercial networks, supported Egyptian merchants abroad, and used gold from the Sudan in its coinage. Its political reach and commercial influence varied across Africa.
Continue exploring
The Story
Mamluk Egypt appears as the most powerful Muslim power in the extract’s northeastern African world. Its government inherited major responsibilities toward neighboring Christian and Muslim societies, especially Nubia and Ethiopia. Yet its influence was uneven: it was strongest in Nubia, weaker in Ethiopia, and still more limited farther south and along the East African coast.
The Mamluk government claimed to protect Ethiopian Muslims and sometimes intervened through the Coptic patriarch on behalf of co-religionists persecuted by Ethiopian kings. At the same time, Egypt pursued a conciliatory policy because it valued trade with Christian Ethiopia and could not effectively assist the Muslim states south of the Ethiopian highlands. Formal diplomatic relations with those states were rare, despite religious and educational contacts.
Mamluk commercial activity extended through Red Sea ports, Zeila, the Maghrib, and the Sudan. Egyptian exports included textiles, weapons, glassware, spices, perfumes, and metal goods, while Sudanese gold from Bambuk and Bure reached Egypt in increasing quantities and was used to mint Mamluk coins. The extract also emphasizes that Italian, Catalan, and later Portuguese competition reduced the flow of western Sudanese gold to Egypt.
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