The Fierce Warrior-Slaves Known as the Mamluks

The Fierce Warrior-Slaves Known as the Mamluks The Mamluks were a class of warrior-slaves, mostly of Turkic or Caucasian ethnicity, who served between the 9th and 19th century in the Islamic world. Despite their origins as slaves, the Mamluks often had higher social standing than free-born people. In fact, individual rulers of Mamluk background reigned in various countries, including the famous Mahmud of Ghazni in Afghanistan and India, and every ruler of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt and Syria (1250-1517). Slaves of High Standing The term mamluk means slave in Arabic, and comes from the root malaka, meaning to possess. Thus, a mamluk was a person who was owned.  It is interesting to compare Turkish Mamluks with Japanese geisha or Korean gisaeng, in that they were technically considered women of pleasure, yet they could hold a very high status in society. No geisha ever became Empress of Japan, however. Rulers valued their slave-warrior armies because the soldiers often were raised in barracks, away from their homes and even separated from their original ethnic groups.  Thus, they had no separate family or clan affiliation to compete with their military esprit de corps. However, the intense loyalty within the Mamluk regiments sometimes allowed them to band together and bring down the rulers themselves, installing one of their own as sultan instead. The Mamluks Role in History Its not a surprise that the Mamluks were key players in several important historical events.  In 1249, for example, the French king Louis IX launched a Crusade against the Muslim world.  He landed at Damietta, Egypt, and essentially blundered up and down the Nile for several months, until he decided to besiege the town of Mansoura.  Instead of taking the city, however, the Crusaders ended up running out of supplies and starving themselves  The Mamluks wiped out Louiss weakened army shortly thereafter at the Battle of Fariskur on April 6, 1250.  They seized the French king and ransomed him off for a tidy sum. A decade later, the Mamluks faced a new foe.  On September 3, 1260, they triumphed over the Mongols of the Ilkhanate at the Battle of Ayn Jalut.  This was a rare defeat for the Mongol Empire and marked the south-western border of the Mongols conquests.  Some scholars have suggested that the Mamluks saved the Muslim world from being erased at Ayn Jalut; whether or not that is the case, the Ilkhanates themselves soon converted to Islam. Egypts Fighting Elite More than 500 years after these events, the Mamluks were still Egypts fighting elite when Napoleon Bonaparte of France launched his 1798 invasion.  Bonaparte had dreams of driving overland through the Middle East and seizing British India, but the British navy cut off his supply routes to Egypt and like Louis IXs earlier French invasion, Napoleons failed.  However, by this time the Mamluks were outmatched and outgunned.  They were not nearly as decisive a factor in Napoleons defeat as they had been in earlier battles.  As an institution, the Mamluks days were numbered. The Mamluks End The Mamluks finally ceased to be in the later years of the Ottoman Empire. Within Turkey itself, by the 18th century, the sultans no longer had the power to collect young Christian boys from Circassia as slaves, a process called, and train them as Janissaries. Mamluk corps survived longer in some of the outlying Ottoman provinces, including Iraq and Egypt, where the tradition continued through the 1800s.

How to Estimate Your Workload to Plan Ahead With Brian Honigman

How to Estimate Your Workload to Plan Ahead With Brian Honigman You have already created a lot of content on your website. And now you’re wondering if publishing even more content will help you reach your goals even faster. The answer to that is an unequivocal yes! Publishing more high-quality content will help you boost your views, clicks and conversions. If you’re having trouble getting your workflow to the point that it allows you to publish frequently, you won’t want to miss today’s show. We’re talking to Brian Honigman, the CEO of Honigman Media. Brian has his own brand, and he publishes content on Forbes, Entrepreneur, and other publications. He’s got a great system when it comes to proactively planning his workload and publishing at the right frequency, and he’s going to share it with us today. Information about Honigman Media and what Brian does there. How Brian plans an average week’s worth of projects, which might include writing five blog posts in addition to coaching, consulting, and speaking. How Brian figures out how much time each task will take and how he budgets that time. He also talks about how understanding his own time budgeting helps him stay on course and fulfill his promises. What to do if you get off-track when it comes to meeting deadlines or other client obligations. How saying no can help with prioritizing, as well as how Brian decides when to say no. The importance of publishing content consistently on your own channels in addition to your client channels. Brian’s best advice for a marketer who is looking to boost their productivity. Links: Brian Honigman Honigman Media Google KeepIf you liked today’s show, please subscribe on iTunes to The Actionable Content Marketing Podcast! The podcast is also available on SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Google Play. Or subscribe to receive new podcasts via email. //