EGYPT - Summary

After the rule of Kublai Khan ended, others followed China's lead and challenged the myth of Mongolian invincibility. The Mamluks in Cairo, Egypt, were the first soldiers to halt the Mongol military advance west. Their leader was a man called Baybars, who, like Genghis, excelled on the battlefield. He led an elite mounted corps that trained on the polo fields. At the battle of Ain Julut, in Palestine, the Mamluks dealt the Mongols their first defeat in an Islamic area and were able to protect Islam from further Mongolian domination. While not a defeat for the Mongol army as a whole, this small-scale battle had great symbolic significance. Much of the architecture in Cairo today dates back to the Mamluk era when a secure empire ensured flourishing trade. Cairo remained a leading cultural center within the Islamic world.