upon the conquest of the sultanate of egypt by the ottoman empire in 1517, the country was governed as an ottoman eyalet (province). the ottoman porte (government) was content to permit local rule to remain in the hands of the mamluks, the egyptian military caste of circassian, and turkic origin who had held power in egypt since the 13th century. save for military expeditions to crush mamluk egyptian uprisings seeking to re-establish