Nairobi — As a result of the ongoing mercenary saga, one of the hottest new words in the Swahili vocabulary of most Kenyans is Mamluki.

Given the current situation, the word would appear to have an interesting pedigree. According to a 1999 article posted on the Internet, the Mamluk were "orphans, or the children of concubines. Some were sold by their parents because they owed money. Others were kidnapped by slave traders. They were brought to Egypt from Central Asia and later from the Near East and the Balkans. After a brief training in Islam, they were raised in barracks and taught the art of war. Highly prized white slaves, they were bought and sold for their looks, their health and their skill at killing. They became a new race of mercenaries who were created by the short-lived Ayyubid dynasty, and who later brought this dynasty to its end.

"This new race of warrior slaves were called the Mamluks, which means "property" in Arabic. But in 1249 AD, the slaves became the masters and for almost 300 years, these ruthless warrior-slaves ruled a prosperous country, while battling among their strongest officers for power. All over Cairo they built great mosques which survive to this day, monuments to this incredible yet ruthless race of people. Their dynasty is full of assassinations and coup d'etats."

In a December 1999 article entitled Goodbye to the Mamluks published in The Economist, the Mamluki or Mamluks are described as a "Samurai-like" regime of mercenary slaves-turned-masters.

The Mamluks are also credited with chasing the crusaders out of Palestine and fighting off Genghis Khan and his Mongol army in 1260.

According to published information about the Mamluks, they came to exist as a separate tribe of warriors after they were taken to Egypt by the Turkish.

Though they spoke Turkish, they hardly spoke any Arabic. Nevertheless, despite communication being a problem, the Mamluks were fierce warriors.

The story of how they came to rule was also interesting. The final king of the Ayyubid dynasty, Ayyub, came to power in 1240.

Ayyub created his own army of Mamluks from the Black Sea region, an area today known as the Caucasus and where the newly independent State of Armenia can be found.

Sultan Ayyub married one of his Mamluk slaves. Her name was Shagarat ad-Durr, or Tree of Pearls. When Ayyub died in 1249, Shagarat ad-Durr hid his body and pretended he was ruling through her.

After several months, the truth came out. Shagarat ad-Durr then named herself Sultana, "the power", and ruled openly. She was the first and only woman to rule a Muslim country until Queen Victoria of England ruled Egypt and other parts of the Middle East as colonies.

Shagarat ad-Durr's free reign only lasted 80 days, though. Powerful religious leaders got her to step down.

They were, however, ready to settle on a compromise. They suggested that the Sultana take a husband and rule through him.

She did as she was commanded in order to save her power, and married Aybak, a Mamluk warrior. They ruled together until 1257 when Aybak took on a second wife causing problems between him and Shagarat ad-Durr. She had his second wife thrown into prison and hired assassins to kill Aybak.

She ruled only a little while longer before she was overthrown and succeeded by a fellow Mamluk.

It all came to an end about 500 years later when in August 1516, on the plain of Marj Dabik in northern Syria, an Ottoman army smashed the forces of the Mamluk Sultan of Cairo.

According to the article in The Economist, the Turkish victory abruptly ended Cairo's 500-year domination of the central lands of Islam.

The Mamluk empire had stretched from Alexandria in Egypt to Aleppo in modern Syria, and far to the southeast beyond Mecca. It monopolised the global spice trade, driving Portuguese adventurers around the Cape of Good Hope and Spanish fleets to the Americas, in search of alternative sources.

The scale of its defeat was appalling. The battle was over in 20 minutes. Within a year the rest of the Mamluk realm had fallen. Within 20 years the Ottoman Turks ruled almost all the Arab world, except for distant Morocco and Oman.

One battle had transformed an essentially European power into a great Islamic-Mediterranean empire. Selim's successor, Suleiman the Magnificent, was now the richest potentate on earth, Servant of the Holy Places and Commander of the Faithful.

The Economist article, however, suggests that with 480 years of hindsight, the fall of the Mamluks appears less surprising than at the time. The 20,000 Mamluks relied on tactics and equipment perfected in the 13th century.

The Ottoman foot soldiers and the Turks had newer weapons and the Ottomans' logistics, with separate corps for transport, engineering, food supply and surgery, enabled them to keep 60,000 men in the field