The Mamluk Sultanate was a state that controlled Egypt, Palestine, and Syria from 1250 to 1517. The first sultans (kings) of the Mamluk Sultanate were "mamluks" (slave-soldiers) in the armies of the Ayyubid dynasty. The Mamluk Sultanate was the strongest military power in the central Muslim world. The Mamluk sultans also controlled south-eastern Asia Minor and western Arabia. Most of the sultanate's "mamluks" were Turkic people or Circassians. The Turkish language was the state's and the government's most important language.