Qansuh al-Ghuri

Timeline

1. 1441–1500Cairo · Nile DeltaQansuh came from the Mamluk military slave system and rose gradually in the Cairo court and army; in 1501 he replaced Tumanbay II as sultan amid power struggles and began rebuilding control over Syria's governorate and Red Sea trade routes.
2. 1501–1510Cairo · Nile DeltaEarly in his reign Qansuh reformed taxes and the army, built mosques and public works, and maintained relations with maritime trading partners like Venice; facing Ottoman eastward expansion he sought a balancing alliance with Safavid Persia and others while strengthening defenses in Damascus and Aleppo.
3. 1511–1516Aleppo · SyriaAfter completing his consolidation of Anatolia in the 1510s, Ottoman sultan Selim I marched south; in August 1516 Qansuh led a Mamluk coalition against the Ottomans at Marj Dabiq in northern Syria, was crushed by artillery inferiority and command failures, died in battle, and the Mamluk regime rapidly collapsed.