Mamluk Rule in Palestine
(1291 - 1516)
The Land under the Mamluks became a backwater province
ruled from Damascus. Akko, Jaffa (Yafo) and other ports were
destroyed for fear of new crusades, and maritime as well as overland
commerce was interrupted. By the end of the Middle Ages, the country's
urban centers were virtually in ruins, most of Jerusalem was abandoned and the
small Jewish community was poverty-stricken. The period of Mamluk decline
was darkened by political and economic upheavals, plagues, locust invasions
and devastating earthquakes.
Sources: Israeli
Foreign Ministry |