Ayyubid Empire

Ayyubid Sultanate
الأيوبيون ئەیووبی
1171–1260a
Ayyubid Sultanate (in pink) after Saladin's death in 1193
Capital		Cairo (1174–1250) Aleppo (1250–1260)
Languages		Arabicb
Religion		Sunni Islam
Government		Sultanate (principality confederation)
Sultan
•	1174–1193	Saladin (first)
•	1193–1198	Al-Aziz
•	1198–1200	Al-Mansur
•	1200–1218	Al-Adil I
•	1218–1238	Al-Kamil
•	1238–1240	Al-Adil II
•	1240–1249	As-Salih Ayyub
•	1250–1254	Al-Ashraf
History
•	Established	1171
•	Disestablished	1260a
Area
•	1190 est.	2,000,000 km² (772,204 sq mi)
Population
•	12th century est.	7,200,000 (estimate)c
Currency		Dinar
Preceded by Succeeded by Fatimid Caliphate Zengid dynasty Kingdom of Jerusalem Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)
Today part of		Egypt  Iraq  Israel  Jordan  Lebanon  Libya  Palestine  Saudi Arabia  Sudan  Syria  Tunisia  Turkey  Yemen
aA branch of the Ayyubid dynasty ruled Hisn Kayfa until the early 16th century. bFor details of the languages spoken by the Ayyubid rulers and their subjects, see Religion, ethnicity and language below. cThe total population of the Ayyubid territories is unknown. This population figure only includes Egypt, Syria, Upper Mesopotamia, Palestine and Transjordan. Other Ayyubid territories, including Yemen, the Hejaz, Nubia and Cyrenaica are not included.

The Ayyubid dynasty (Arabic: الأيوبيون‎‎ al-Ayyūbīyūn; Kurdish: خانەدانی ئەیووبیان‎ Xanedana Eyûbiyan) was a Muslim dynasty of Kurdish origin, founded by Saladin and centered in Egypt. The dynasty ruled much of the Middle East during the 12th and 13th centuries CE. Saladin had been the vizier of Fatimid Egypt before toppling the Fatimids in 1171. Three years later, he proclaimed himself sultan following the death of his former master, the Zengid ruler Nur al-Din. For the next decade, the Ayyubids launched conquests throughout the region and by 1183, they controlled Egypt, Syria, northern Mesopotamia, Hejaz, Yemen, and the North African coast up to the borders of modern-day Tunisia. Most of the Kingdom of Jerusalem fell to Saladin after his victory at the Battle of Hattin in 1187. However, the Crusaders regained control of Palestine's coastline in the 1190s.

After the death of Saladin, his sons contested control of the sultanate, but Saladin's brother al-Adil became the paramount Ayyubid sultan in 1200, and all of the later Ayyubid sultans of Egypt were his descendants. In the 1230s, the emirs of Syria attempted to assert their independence from Egypt and the Ayyubid realm remained divided until Sultan as-Salih Ayyub restored its unity by conquering most of Syria, except Aleppo, by 1247. By then, local Muslim dynasties had driven out the Ayyubids from Yemen, the Hejaz, and parts of Mesopotamia. After his death in 1249, as-Salih Ayyub was succeeded in Egypt by al-Mu'azzam Turanshah. However, the latter was soon overthrown by the Mamluk generals who had repelled a Crusader invasion of the Nile Delta. This effectively ended Ayyubid power in Egypt; attempts by the emirs of Syria, led by an-Nasir Yusuf of Aleppo, to wrest back Egypt failed. In 1260, the Mongols sacked Aleppo and conquered the Ayyubids' remaining territories soon after. The Mamluks, who expelled the Mongols, maintained the Ayyubid principality of Hama until deposing its last ruler in 1341.