Qutuz in the context of "Battle of Ain Jalut"

The Mamluk Sultanate (Arabic: سلطنة المماليك, romanized: Salṭanat al-Mamālīk), also known as Mamluk Egypt or the Mamluk Empire, was a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz from the mid-13th to early 16th centuries, with Cairo as its capital. It was ruled by a military caste of mamluks (freed slave soldiers) headed by a sultan. The sultanate was established with the overthrow of the Ayyubid dynasty in Egypt in 1250 and was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1517. Mamluk history is generally divided into the Turkic or Bahri period (1250–1382) and the Circassian or Burji period (1382–1517), called after the predominant ethnicity or corps of the ruling Mamluks during these respective eras.

The first rulers of the sultanate hailed from the mamluk regiments of the Ayyubid sultan as-Salih Ayyub (r. 1240–1249), usurping power from his successor in 1250. The Mamluks under Sultan Qutuz and Baybars routed the Mongols in 1260, halting their southward expansion. They then conquered or gained suzerainty over the Ayyubids' Syrian principalities. Baybars also installed a surviving branch of the Abbasid dynasty in Cairo, who officially remained as caliphs and granted symbolic prestige to the sultanate. By the end of the 13th century, through the efforts of sultans Baybars, Qalawun (r. 1279–1290) and al-Ashraf Khalil (r. 1290–1293), the Mamluks had conquered the Crusader states, expanded into Makuria (Nubia), Cyrenaica, the Hejaz, and southern Anatolia. The sultanate then experienced a long period of stability and prosperity during the third reign of al-Nasir Muhammad (r. 1293–1294, 1299–1309, 1310–1341), before giving way to the internal strife characterizing the succession of his sons, when real power was held by senior emirs.

Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari (Arabic: الْمَلِك الظَّاهِر رُكْن الدِّين بَيْبَرْس الْبُنْدُقْدَارِيّ; 1223/1228 – 30 June 1277), commonly known as Baibars or Baybars (بَيْبَرْس) and nicknamed Abu al-Futuh (أَبُو الْفُتُوح, lit. 'Father of Conquests'), was the fourth Mamluk sultan of Egypt and Syria, of Turkic Kipchak origin, in the Bahri dynasty, succeeding Qutuz. He was one of the commanders of the Muslim forces that inflicted a defeat on the Seventh Crusade of King Louis IX of France. He also led the vanguard of the Mamluk army at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260, which marked the first substantial defeat of the Mongol army that is considered a turning point in history.

The reign of Baybars marked the start of an age of Mamluk dominance in the Eastern Mediterranean and solidified the durability of their military system. He managed to pave the way for the end of the Crusader presence in the Levant and reinforced the union of Egypt and Syria as the region's pre-eminent Muslim state, able to fend off threats from both Crusaders and Mongols, and even managed to subdue the kingdom of Makuria, which was famous for being unconquerable by previous Muslim empire invasion attempts. As sultan, Baybars also engaged in a combination of diplomacy and military action, allowing the Mamluks of Egypt to greatly expand their empire.

The following is a list of Mamluk sultans. The Mamluk Sultanate was founded in 1250 by mamluks of the Ayyubid sultan as-Salih Ayyub and it succeeded the Ayyubid state. It was based in Cairo and for much of its history, the territory of the sultanate spanned Egypt, Syria and parts of Anatolia, Upper Mesopotamia and the Hejaz. The sultanate ended with the advent of the Ottoman Empire in 1517.

The Mamluk period is generally divided into two periods, the Bahri and Burji periods. The Bahri sultans were predominantly of Turkic origins, while the Burji sultans were predominantly ethnic Circassians. While the first three Mamluk sultans, Aybak, his son al-Mansur Ali, and Qutuz, are generally considered part of the Bahri dynasty, they were not part of the Bahriyya mamluk regiment and opposed the political interests of the Bahriyya. The first sultan to come from the Bahriyya's ranks was Baybars. The Burji mamluks usurped the throne in 1382 with the accession of Sultan Barquq. The 34th sultan, al-Musta'in Billah, was also the Mamluk Abbasid caliph and was installed in power by the Burji emirs as a figurehead.