Home Region:  Northeast Africa (Africa)

Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II

1348 CE 1412 CE
EQ 2020  eg_mamluk_sultanate_2 / EgMamCP
Preceding Entity: Add one more here.
1260 CE 1348 CE Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate I (eg_mamluk_sultanate_1)    [continuity]

Succeeding Entity: Add one more here.
1412 CE 1517 CE Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate III (eg_mamluk_sultanate_3)    [continuity]

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  General Description  
Between 1348 and 1412 CE, a ’great crisis’ struck Mamluk Egypt and Syria under the Bahri Dynasty sultan, precipitating the rise of the Burji (Circassian) Dynasty from 1382 CE. Instead of the traditional chronological division of the Mamluk Sultanate into two dynasties, we have therefore included a crisis period encapsulating the end of the Bahri and beginning of the Burji periods. [1] Indeed, the crisis period persisted until the assassination of Sultan Faraj in Damascus in 1412 CE. In addition to the plague of 1348 CE, which for many Egyptians brought a period of spectacular prosperity to an end, other natural disasters in this period included an abnormally high Nile flood in 1354, famine in 1375, the return of the plague between 1379 and 1381, a low Nile flood and grain shortage in 1394 and again in 1403 CE, followed by yet another famine between 1403 and 1404 CE. In the midst of these environmental crises, and perhaps sparked by them, the region also experienced civil war in 1389 CE, [2] effectively ending the period of Turkish rule in Egypt.
Population and political organization
Since the children of mamluks could by law never become mamluks, [3] the Mamluk Sultanate was in every generation ruled by a foreign ’slave-elite’ that had to be constantly replaced by new ’slave’ recruits imported, educated, promoted, and manumitted specifically for the role. Manumission was essential because under Islamic law no slave could be sovereign. The sultan performed a ritual manumission at his inaugural ceremony but the legal manumission would usually have occurred when he was about 18 years old, following the mamluk training. [4] In the Bahri period the Mamluks were of Turkish origin (like those recruited by the last Ayyubid sultan), but later sultans recruited mostly Circassians from the Caucasus. [5] Mamluk recruits were employed in the central government, the military and as governors in the provinces. While promotion to the highest echelons of the government and military was ’granted according to precise rules’, succession to the highest position - the Sultanate itself - was often a chaotic contest in which ’seniority, merit, cabal, intrigue, or violence’ all jostled for prominence. [6] Nevertheless, the deck was stacked such that from 1290 to 1382 CE, the sultanate was inherited by 17 different descendants of Sultan Qalawun. [7]
The Mamluk sultan ruled from Cairo and during his absence from the capital, Egypt was governed by his viceroy, the na’ib al-saltana. [8] The bureaucracy did not tightly control the countryside. Rather, influence was projected informally through ’iqta holdings (allotments of land along with the right to their tax revenue) - first used in Egypt during the preceding Ayyubid Dynasty period. These were assigned as a way to remunerate the slave soldiers of the centrally organized professional military, [9] as well as more formally through the na’ib, governor of a mamlaka administrative district. [10] The Mamluk elite controlled the appointment of ’judges, legal administrators, professors, Sufi shaykhs, prayer leaders, and other Muslim officials. They paid the salaries of religious personnel, endowed their schools, and thus brought the religious establishment into a state bureaucracy’. [11] In Cairo, Islamic law was kept by three traditional magistracies called qadi (pl. qudah), whose courts had a wide remit over civil law. A law-enforcement official called the chief of the sergeant of the watch oversaw wulah (sg. wali) policemen who kept watch at night and also fought fires. [12]
Revenue and Public Services
The Bahri Dynasty was highly effective at drawing revenue. In the 14th century CE, the annual revenue was 9.5 million dinars, which was ’higher than at almost any other time since the Arab conquest’. [13] This paid for the Al-Barid postal system initiated by Baybars (1260‒1277 CE), which was extremely expensive to set up. Horses were used for first time on routes such as Cairo to Qus in Upper Egypt; and Cairo to Alexandria, Damietta and Syria. [14] The Syrian region of the Mamluk Sultanate was run by a chief governor, who had governors below him. [10] Imperial communications via Palestine were reportedly so efficient that ’Baybars boasted that he could play polo in Cairo and Damascus in the same week, while an even more rapid carrier-pigeon post was maintained between the two cities’. [15]
The Black Death reached Alexandria in Egypt, probably from the Crimea, in the autumn of 1347 CE before slowly spreading throughout northern Egypt in 1348 and peaking in the autumn and winter of that year. [16] As a result of the epidemic, the Egyptian population, previously between 4.2 and 8 million, ’may have declined by about one-quarter to one-third’ by the mid- to late 14th century. [17] The total population of the sultanate fell from perhaps 6-7 million to 4.8 million during this period. [18]
The troubled times did little to prevent the Mamluk ruling class from carrying out extravagant construction projects, for which they mostly used corvée labour. [4] Between 1341 and 1412 CE, 49 mosques were built in the southern zone of Cairo. [19] One of them was the ’gigantic’ Sultan Hasan Mosque (built 1356‒1361 CE), which cost an astonishing 20 million dirhams and has been called ’one of the most remarkable monuments of the Islamic world’. [20] Sultan Sha’ban Mosque, built in 1375 but destroyed in 1411, may have been comparable. [21] The Mamluk-period mosques added to a city already studded with public baths, [22] caravanserais, [22] libraries, [23] madrasas [4] and hospitals. [24]

[1]: (Raymond 2000, 116-17) André Raymond. 2000. Cairo. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

[2]: (Raymond 2000, 116-17, 138-46) André Raymond. 2000. Cairo. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

[3]: (Oliver and Atmore 2001, 16) Roland Oliver and Anthony Atmore. 2001. Medieval Africa, 1250-1800. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[4]: (Hrbek 1977, 39-67) Ivan Hrbek. 1977. ’Egypt, Nubia and the Eastern Deserts’, in The Cambridge History of Africa, Volume 3: From c. 1050 to c. 1600, edited by Roland Oliver, 10-97. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[5]: (Raymond 2000, 112) André Raymond. 2000. Cairo. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

[6]: (Raymond 2000, 113-14) André Raymond. 2000. Cairo. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

[7]: (Raymond 2000, 114) André Raymond. 2000. Cairo. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

[8]: (Raymond 2000, 152) André Raymond. 2000. Cairo. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

[9]: (Lapidus 2012, 250) Ira M. Lapidus. 2012. Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[10]: (Drory 2004, 169) Joseph Drory. 2004. ’Some Remarks Concerning Safed and the Organization of the Region in the Mamluk period’, in The Mamluks in Egyptian and Syrian Politics and Society, edited by Michael Winter and Amalia Levanoni, 163-90. Leiden: Brill.

[11]: (Lapidus 2012, 249) Ira M. Lapidus. 2012. Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[12]: (Raymond 2000, 153) André Raymond. 2000. Cairo. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

[13]: (Raymond 2000, 116) André Raymond. 2000. Cairo. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

[14]: (Silverstein 2007, 173) A. J. Silverstein. 2007. Postal Systems in the Pre-Modern Islamic World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[15]: (Oliver and Atmore 2001, 17) Roland Oliver and Anthony Atmore. 2001. Medieval Africa, 1250-1800. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[16]: (Dols 1977, 154-55) M. W. Dols. 1977. The Black Death In The Middle East. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

[17]: (Dols 1977, 218) M. W. Dols. 1977. The Black Death In The Middle East. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

[18]: (McEvedy and Jones 1978, 227) Colin McEvedy and Richard Jones. 1978. Atlas of World Population History. London: Allen Lane.

[19]: (Raymond 2000, 145) André Raymond. 2000. Cairo. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

[20]: (Raymond 2000, 141) André Raymond. 2000. Cairo. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

[21]: (Raymond 2000, 144) André Raymond. 2000. Cairo. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

[22]: (Hrbek 1977, 65) Ivan Hrbek. 1977. ’Egypt, Nubia and the Eastern Deserts’, in The Cambridge History of Africa, Volume 3: From c. 1050 to c. 1600, edited by Roland Oliver, 10-97. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[23]: (Lapidus 2012, 248) Ira M. Lapidus. 2012. Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[24]: (Raymond 2000, 52) André Raymond. 2000. Cairo. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Economy Variables (Luxury Goods) Coding in Progress.
Religion Variables Coding in Progress.

NGA Settlements:

Year Range Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II (eg_mamluk_sultanate_2) was in:
 (1348 CE 1411 CE) Upper Egypt
Home NGA: Upper Egypt

General Variables
Identity and Location Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II (eg_mamluk_sultanate_2)
Variable Coded Value / Certainty Tags Year(s) See More
Utm Zone 36 R 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Original Name Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Capital Cairo 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Alternative Name 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Alternative Name 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Alternative Name 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Alternative Name 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Alternative Name 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Alternative Name 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Alternative Name 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Alternative Name 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Alternative Name 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Alternative Name 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Alternative Name 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Alternative Name 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Alternative Name 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Temporal Bounds Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II (eg_mamluk_sultanate_2)
Variable Coded Value / Certainty Tags Year(s) See More
Peak Years
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Duration
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Political and Cultural Relations Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II (eg_mamluk_sultanate_2)
Variable Coded Value / Certainty Tags Year(s) See More
Suprapolity Relations none 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Supracultural Entity Islam 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Succeeding Entity Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate III 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Scale of Supracultural Interaction 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Relationship to Preceding Entity continuity 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Succeeding Entity
1412 CE 1517 CE
Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate III (eg_mamluk_sultanate_3)   [continuity] 
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Preceding Entity
1260 CE 1348 CE
Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate I (eg_mamluk_sultanate_1)   [continuity] 
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Degree of Centralization unitary state 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Language Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II (eg_mamluk_sultanate_2)
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Linguistic Family Afro-Asiatic 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Language Arabic 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Religion Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II (eg_mamluk_sultanate_2)
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Religion Genus Islam 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Religion Family Sunni 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Religion Hanafi 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Alternate Religion Genus Islam 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Alternate Religion Family Sufi 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Alternate Religion Shadhil 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Social Complexity Variables
Social Scale Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II (eg_mamluk_sultanate_2)
Variable Coded Value / Certainty Tags Year(s) See More
Population of the Largest Settlement 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Polity Territory 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Polity Population 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Hierarchical Complexity Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II (eg_mamluk_sultanate_2)
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Settlement Hierarchy 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Religious Level 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Military Level 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Administrative Level 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Professions Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II (eg_mamluk_sultanate_2)
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Professional Soldier 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Professional Priesthood 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Professional Military Officer 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Occupational Complexity 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Bureaucracy Characteristics Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II (eg_mamluk_sultanate_2)
Variable Coded Value / Certainty Tags Year(s) See More
Specialized Government Building 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Merit Promotion 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Full Time Bureaucrat 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Examination System 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Law Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II (eg_mamluk_sultanate_2)
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Professional Lawyer 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Judge 1348 CE  1412 CE
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1348 CE  1412 CE
Court 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Specialized Buildings: polity owned Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II (eg_mamluk_sultanate_2)
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Market 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Irrigation System 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Food Storage Site Present Inferred 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Drinking Water Supply System 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Drinking Water Supply System 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Transport Infrastructure Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II (eg_mamluk_sultanate_2)
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Road 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Port Present 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Canal 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Bridge 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Special-purpose Sites Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II (eg_mamluk_sultanate_2)
Variable Coded Value / Certainty Tags Year(s) See More
Mines or Quarry Present 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Information / Writing System Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II (eg_mamluk_sultanate_2)
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Written Record Present 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Script Present 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Phonetic Alphabetic Writing Present 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Nonwritten Record Present 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Non Phonetic Writing Absent 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Mnemonic Device Present 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Information / Kinds of Written Documents Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II (eg_mamluk_sultanate_2)
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Scientific Literature 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Sacred Text 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Religious Literature 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Practical Literature 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Philosophy 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Lists Tables and Classification 1348 CE  1412 CE
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History 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Fiction 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Calendar Present 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Information / Money Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II (eg_mamluk_sultanate_2)
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Token Unknown Suspected 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Precious Metal Present Inferred 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Paper Currency Absent 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Indigenous Coin 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Foreign Coin 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Article Present 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Information / Postal System Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II (eg_mamluk_sultanate_2)
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Postal Station 1348 CE  1412 CE
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General Postal Service 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Courier Present 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Information / Measurement System Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II (eg_mamluk_sultanate_2)
Variable Coded Value / Certainty Tags Year(s) See More
Warfare Variables (Military Technologies)
Fortifications Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II (eg_mamluk_sultanate_2)
Variable Coded Value / Certainty Tags Year(s) See More
Wooden Palisade Unknown Suspected 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Stone Walls Non Mortared 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Stone Walls Mortared 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Settlements in a Defensive Position 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Modern Fortification Absent 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Moat Unknown Suspected 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Fortified Camp 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Earth Rampart Present Inferred 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Ditch 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Complex Fortification 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Military use of Metals Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II (eg_mamluk_sultanate_2)
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Steel 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Iron 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Copper 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Bronze 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Projectiles Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II (eg_mamluk_sultanate_2)
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Tension Siege Engine 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Sling Siege Engine 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Sling 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Self Bow Unknown Suspected 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Javelin 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Handheld Firearm 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Gunpowder Siege Artillery Absent 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Crossbow 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Composite Bow 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Atlatl 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Handheld weapons Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II (eg_mamluk_sultanate_2)
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War Club 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Sword 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Spear 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Polearm Unknown Suspected 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Dagger 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Battle Axe 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Animals used in warfare Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II (eg_mamluk_sultanate_2)
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Horse 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Elephant 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Donkey 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Dog Unknown Suspected 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Camel 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Armor Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II (eg_mamluk_sultanate_2)
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Wood Bark Etc 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Shield 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Scaled Armor 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Plate Armor 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Limb Protection 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Leather Cloth 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Laminar Armor 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Helmet 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Chainmail 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Breastplate 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Naval technology Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II (eg_mamluk_sultanate_2)
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Specialized Military Vessel 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Small Vessels Canoes Etc 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Merchant Ships Pressed Into Service Unknown Suspected 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Economy Variables (Luxury Goods)
Religion Variables
Moralizing Supernatural Punishment and Reward Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II (eg_mamluk_sultanate_2)
Variable Coded Value / Certainty Tags Year(s) See More
Moralizing Enforcement is Broad 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Moralizing Supernatural Concern is Primary 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Moralizing Enforcement is Agentic 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Moralizing Enforcement in This Life 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Moralizing Supernatural Punishment And Reward 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Moralizing Religion Adopted by Commoners Present 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Moralizing Enforcement is Targeted 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Moralizing Enforcement in Afterlife 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Moralizing Religion Adopted by Elites Present 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Moralizing Enforcement of Rulers 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Moralizing Enforcement is Certain 1348 CE  1412 CE
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Human Sacrifice Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate II (eg_mamluk_sultanate_2)
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Instability Data
Power Transitions