It was based in Cairo and for much of its history, the territory of the sultanate spanned Egypt, Syria and parts of Anatolia, Upper Mesopotamia and the Hejaz.

The sultanate ended with the advent of the Ottoman Empire in 1517.

While the first three Mamluk sultans, Aybak, his son al-Mansur Ali, and Qutuz, are generally considered part of the Bahri dynasty, they were not part of the Bahriyya mamluk regiment and opposed the political interests of the Bahriyya.

[1] The Burji mamluks usurped the throne in 1382 with the accession of Sultan Barquq.

The 34th sultan, al-Musta'in Billah, was also the Mamluk Abbasid caliph and was installed in power by the Burji emirs as a figurehead.