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Mamluk Iqta System
The iqta was the Mamluk Sultanate's fief system granting land or tax revenues to the military-administrative elite, rebalancing the Mamluk corps, loc…
Timeline
- 1250–1290Cairo · EgyptEarly sultans like Baybars used iqta to reward Mamluk emirs and maintain cavalry formations, directly linking fief revenues to military service.
- 1311–1320Cairo · EgyptAfter regaining the throne in 1310, al-Nasir Muhammad reorganized fief registers, limited hereditary emir holdings, and strengthened sultanic redistribution rights to consolidate control over the military nobility and stabilize treasury income.
- 1382–1517Cairo · EgyptIn the Burji period fiefs became increasingly rigid and factionalized; though sultans still relied on iqta to provision the army, the system lost flexibility, planting seeds for later fiscal crises.
Sources
- Mamluk Economics: A Study and Translation of al-Maqrizi's Ighathah — A. Allouche (1994)
- The Cambridge History of Egypt, Vol. 1: Islamic Egypt, 640-1517 — Carl F. Petry (ed.) (1998)