Chapter 965: The Importance of the Mamluk Dynasty

Why go to Egypt to buy desert slaves and camels? Aren't there other countries in North Africa, such as Morocco and Algeria?

This starts with Marin's political considerations......

What did the Mamluks of Egypt prosper? Spices! The Mamluks had a very close relationship with India, and Indian spices were always shipped from India, then through the Arabian Sea to the Red Sea, and then through the territory of the Mamluks, transported to Alexandria, and then sold to Venetian merchants.

It can be said that this business of reselling spices made the Mamluk dynasty of Egypt profitable. In other words, the spice trade was the economic lifeblood of the Mamluk dynasty.

The Mamluks of Egypt were far more dependent on India, and in addition to spices, the Mamluks also needed to import large quantities of war horses and Uzi steel from India.

What the? You say that the Mamluks imported war horses from India? Yes, it does. This is due to the fact that the Mamluk dynasty of Egypt lacked a horse-producing area.

The territory of the Mamluk dynasty mainly included Egypt, later Palestine, Jordan, Syria, and the Hejaz region on the Red Sea coast of western Saudi Arabia.

The problem is that most of these areas are arid and semi-arid, and only Syria is a little better and can produce more horses. In other areas, it is too arid, although the famous Arabian horse is also produced, but because there is too little grassland and too much desert, the production of Arabian horses is not large, but there are more camels......

The limited number of horses produced in Syria could not provide enough horses for the tens of thousands of Mamluk cavalry of the Mamluk dynasty.

It is said that due to the shortage of horses, the Mamluk cavalry had only one horse when they went out, and then they would bring a camel with them as a transfer mount, and be responsible for carrying the armor and supplies of the Mamluk cavalry.

What to do if there is a lack of horses? Of course it's buying! After all, the Mamluks made a lot of money from the spice trade, and they didn't miss the money to buy horses. But the problem is that Turkey, to the north of the Mamluk dynasty, is not dealing with the Mamluk dynasty.

Relations between the Aries and Mamluks in the east were also strained over the Iraqi region. The Safavid Empire of Persia, which was newly defeated by the Aries dynasty, was a Shiite of his meow, and the natural and Sunni Mamluks were mortal enemies......

Therefore, the Mamluks could only choose to buy war horses from India. And the Mawari horses from western India are also very good. As a descendant of the Arabian horse, the Mawari horse not only has the characteristics of the Arabian horse, but also can tolerate hot and humid climates, and belongs to the first-class war horse. This is one of the reasons why Marin wants to buy horses in India, because he also has a crush on Mawari horses.

In the Mamluk Dynasty of Egypt, it is said that only the Sultan's own soldiers and some elite troops were able to ride the Mawari horse......

And Uzi steel, not to mention. The Damascus scimitars, used by the Mamluk cavalry, relied heavily on Uzi steel imported from India. Without Uzi steel, the Damascus scimitar could not be made.

It can be said that the dependence of the Egyptian Mamluks on India was all-encompassing. Not only the spices that are the lifeblood of the economy, but also the horses and weapons that are the lifeblood of the military are also heavily dependent on imports from India.

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But the problem was that after Spain and Portugal opened up the Indian route, they were not satisfied with only obtaining only part of the spices, but wanted to monopolize the spice trade.

Therefore, the combined fleet of Spain and Portugal is now wreaking havoc on the Arabian Sea, specializing in intercepting Arab merchant ships and preventing the Arabs from grabbing a share of the spice trade.

They stopped the spice trade, but later expanded the scope and banned Arab merchant ships from going to India. In this way, it also touched the lifeblood of the Mamluk dynasty.

Without the spice trade, the economy of the Mamluks would inevitably decline. And the loss of war horses and the import of Uzi steel will seriously affect the combat effectiveness of the Mamluk cavalry.

Therefore, in history, the Mamluk dynasty actively participated in the naval battle of Diu and wanted to defeat the Portuguese. After the defeat at the Battle of Diu, the originally powerful Mamluk dynasty was doomed to decline. Then, in 1517, it was destroyed by the Ottoman Turks.

In fact, Turkey has long wanted to take out the Mamluks. Why? Because the Mamluks had a caliphate......

After the Abbasid dynasty was overthrown by the Mongols, the survivors of the Abbasids fled to Egypt for refuge. The Mamluks then supported the Abbasid descendants to restore caliphate status in Cairo. Just puppets, of course.

However, even the puppet made the Ottoman Turks, who also belonged to the camp of Allah, salivate. After the Ottoman Turks became powerful, they always had the ambition to rule the entire Allahist world. Not to mention, the Mamluks also occupied the three holy cities of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem.

However, the Mamluks were also a powerful nation before the spice trade, the war horse trade, and the Uzi steel trade were destroyed by the Europeans. The Mamluk cavalry, armed with a Damascus scimitar and riding excellent horses, was no less powerful than the Turkish cavalry. Therefore, Turkey has no choice but to endure it all the time.

It was not until the Mamluks lost the Battle of Diu and began to decline that Turkey began to really plot to eliminate the Mamluks and replace them. Originally, historically, they did the same. In the end, Turkey not only destroyed the Mamluk dynasty, but also took away the title of caliph and the three holy cities, and became the true leader of the Allahist world. The fall of the Mamluk dynasty also marked the growth of Ottoman Turkey into a giant empire.

For the time being, Turkey is still just an ordinary power, at most stronger than France, and has not yet reached the level of beating Europe. They really reached this level only after the annexation of the Mamluks. For now, Turkey still needs to display heavy troops on the southern border to guard against the invasion of Mamluk cavalry, and cannot let go of its hands and feet to beat the Europeans.

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That is, after the loss of the spice trade, the war horse trade, and the Uz steel trade, the decline of the Mamluk dynasty was almost inevitable. Turkey, on the other hand, will inevitably take advantage of its decline and seek to seize the land of the Mamluk dynasty.

But who is Marin? That's a traverser. How could he, who is well versed in history, tolerate Turkey becoming strong and beating all of Europe? You know, Turkey's main attack direction in Europe is Germany!

Therefore, for the sake of Germany, Marin did not allow Turkey to grow into a monster that swallowed the sky. And the first step in preventing Turkey from growing into a monster is to keep the Mamluks.

Therefore, knowing that desert slaves and camels could be bought from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, Marin still chose to buy from the Mamluk dynasty, which can be regarded as supporting the Mamluk dynasty in disguise.

As long as the Mamluk dynasty does not fall, and the Ottoman Turkey, which does not seize the position of caliph and the three holy cities, does not want to rise in prestige. If it can't rise to prestige, it won't be able to grow into a terrorist "European bulldozer". With the Mamluks in its way, Turkey could not let go of the invasion of Europe......

Of course, buying only a few slaves and a few camels will not help the Mamluks. In the future, Marin will increase his support for the Mamluk dynasty. Marin even intended to provide the Mamluks with cement and guns if necessary to help the Mamluks build stronger fortresses and repel Ottoman Turkish attacks......