The
Mamluk Sultanate (,
Sulṭanat al-Mamālīk) was a medieval realm spanning
Egypt, the
Levant, and
Hejaz. It lasted from the overthrow of the
Ayyubid Dynasty until the
Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517. Historians have traditionally broken the era of Mamlūk rule into two periods—one covering 1250–1382, the other, 1382–1517. Western historians call the former the "
Baḥrī" period and the latter the "
Burjī," because of the political dominance of the regiments known by these names during the respective times. The contemporary Muslim historians referred to the same divisions as the "
Turkish" and "
Circassian" periods, in order to call attention to the change in ethnic origin of the majority of Mamlūks.