Late Middle Ages · Middle East · Politics

1388

Cairo Mamluk Sultan Barquq consolidates power

1388

The Circassian-born Burji Mamluk, having seized the Egyptian throne from the Bahri line, stabilized Cairo's treasury after decades of plague and palace coups. He extended Mamluk influence into Syria and Anatolia and fortified the Syrian frontier against Timur's advancing armies. Under Barquq, Cairo remained one of the great cities of the Islamic world, rivalled only by Samarkand.