Age of Empire: New Islamic States

As Abbasid power declined and fragmented, new powers rose in its place. One such power was the Turks, a nomadic group from the steppes of Central Asia who who were often enslaved by the Abbasids (and later empires) and used as soldiers. It is important to note that the Turkish people were diverse, but they did share a common language. From the ninth century onwards the Turks began to enter the Caliphate as slaves or adventurers serving as soldiers. During the Muslim conquests, the Turks entered the Muslim world as slaves taken during Arab raids and conquests. The Turks began converting to Islam through the efforts of missionaries, Sufis, and merchants. Under the Abbasid Caliphate, increasing numbers of Turkish slaves were trained as soldiers. The Caliph Mu'tasim (833-842) was the first Muslim ruler to surround himself with a Turkish guard. Turkish officers rose to high rank, commanding armies, governing provinces, sometimes ruling as independent princes. As the Abbasid Caliphate declined, Turkish officers assumed more military and political power by taking over or establishing provincial dynasties with their own corps of Turkish troops. Fragmentation allowed successor states to emerge, some formed by Turkish leaders. Three such states were the Mamluk Sultanate, the Seljuk Empire, and the Delhi Sultanate. 

It is no surprise that these three empires, and the Turks in general, appear in the Age of Empires series. They served as dominant forces in the Middle Ages, yet they are often left out of histories of the Middle Ages. Using the links, explore how these Islamic states exhibited both continuity and change in both the Islamic world and in the wider, connected world of the Middle Ages.