Circassian Mamelukes

**Leet Eriksson** · 06-11-2005, 03:38

It made me wonder, while alot of Mamelukes were slave soldiers gathered from around the islamic empires of the time (Mameluke != Ghulam, Mamelukes were white slaves, ghulam were black), what made the circassians "mamelukes"?

The reason I was asking is becuase I read in a history book, which i can't recall the name of becuase it was someones else's that said the circassians moved out of georgia due to constant external invasions and settled in egypt (term Sharkasi,Sharkas(singular)/Sharakisa(plural) was derived from Circassian). A useless note but I would like to mention becuase I found it interesting, earlier versions of mamelukes in combat wore georgian hats(long furry hats), whats the reason for that?

**Pindar** · 06-11-2005, 05:05

Originally Posted by faisal

It made me wonder, while alot of Mamelukes were slave soldiers gathered from around the islamic empires of the time (Mameluke != Ghulam, Mamelukes were white slaves, ghulam were black), what made the circassians "mamelukes"?

As I understand it, mamluk or abid were common words used to describe slaves. They were not race specific terms. Ghilman (sing. ghulam) literally means page boy or young man and is also race neutral.

The importation of mamluks or mawali began in large measure with al-Mutasim around 816 after the civil wars that followed Harun al-Rashid's death. These soldiers were mostly Turks from Transoxania, Ushrusana etc. There seems to be some debate as to whether they actually served as freedmen or as slaves. Latter, in the Samarra Period there are reports of troops from Daylam and other Caucasus areas. These may be the beginnings of Circassian mamluks. Black mamluks seem to have come from Nubia and Zaghawa via Egypt.