The Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt is a state based in medieval Egypt.

It lasts from the overthrow of the Ayyubid Dynasty until the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517.

The sultanate's ruling caste is composed of Mamluks, soldiers of predominantly Cumans, Circassian, and Georgian slave origin.

While Mamluks are purchased, their status is above ordinary slaves, who are not allowed to carry weapons or perform certain tasks.

Mamluks are considered to be "true lords", with social status above freeborn Egyptian Muslims.

Though it declines towards the end of its existence, at its height the sultanate representa the zenith of Egyptian and Levantine political, economic, and cultural glory in the Islamic era.

The Bahri dynasty or Bahriyya Mamluks is a Mamluk dynasty of mostly Kipchak Turkic origin that rules the Egyptian Mamluk Sultanate from 1250 to 1382.

They follow the Ayyubid dynasty, and are succeeded by a second Mamluk dynasty, the Burji dynasty.Their name "Bahriyya" means 'of the river', referring to the location of their original settlement on Al-Rodah Island in the Nile (Bahr al-Nil) in Medieval Cairo at the castle of Al-Rodah which is built by the Ayyubid Sultan as-Salih Ayyub.