Ilkhanate Relations with the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt

The Ilkhanate pursued a hostile line towards the Mamluk Sultanate, a policy that consumed a chunk of their resources and had political ramifications for them. Shedding light on these relations and assessing their ramification could deliver a more accurate outlook on power bargains and foreign relations within the Ilkhanate system. The research findings suggest that the attitude and political bases of the Ilkhanate vis-à-vis the Mamluk Sultanate was drastically defined by their failure in the Battle of Ain Jalut which put an end to their ambition of expanding into Europe; this ushered in a chapter of enduring hostility in their political relations. This hostile attitude coupled with the emergence of the notion of asylum, set the stage for an expansive network of machination, libel, sectarianism, insecurity of lives and jobs within the Ilkhanate internal dealings and, at the same time, pushed them towards conversion to Islam as a means to legitimize their power and the battles they fought against the Mamluk Sultanate. Moreover, on foreign policy plain this rift precipitated close relations between the Ilkhanate and Europe on the one hand, and close times between the Mamluk Sultanate and the Golden Horde on the other, which eventually led Egyptians to bear cultural and religious impact on them and for the Europeans to acquaint themselves with the orient.