The Ramadanid Emirate ( Modern Turkish: ''Ramazanoğulları Beyliği'') was a Turkish autonomous administration and a ''de facto'' independent emirate that existed from 1352 to 1608 in

Cilicia Cilicia () is a geographical region in southern Anatolia, extending inland from the northeastern coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. Cilicia has a population ranging over six million, concentrated mostly at the Cilician plain (). The region inclu ...

, taking over the rule of the region from the

Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, also known as Cilician Armenia, Lesser Armenia, Little Armenia or New Armenia, and formerly known as the Armenian Principality of Cilicia, was an Armenian state formed during the High Middle Ages by Armenian ...

. The emirate was a

protectorate A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a State (polity), state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over ...

of the

Mamluk Sultanate The Mamluk Sultanate (), also known as Mamluk Egypt or the Mamluk Empire, was a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz from the mid-13th to early 16th centuries, with Cairo as its capital. It was ruled by a military caste of mamluks ...

until the end of the 14th century, then it was de facto independent for more than a century, and then, from 1517, a protectorate of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. The capital was

Adana Adana is a large city in southern Turkey. The city is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the northeastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It is the administrative seat of the Adana Province, Adana province, and has a population of 1 81 ...

. The Ramadanid Emirate was the only emirate in

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

that was not a successor of the

Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate The Sultanate of Rum was a culturally Turco-Persian Sunni Muslim state, established over conquered Byzantine territories and peoples (Rum) of Anatolia by the Seljuk Turks following their entry into Anatolia after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. T ...

. It is often misclassified as an

Anatolian beylik Anatolian or anatolica may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the region Anatolia * Ancient Anatolians, Anatolians, ancient Indo-European peoples who spoke the Anatolian languages * Anatolian High School, a type of Turkish educational in ...

, though it was an entity under the Mamluks. Cilicia was part of the Seljuks for a short time around the turn of the 11th century and thus was not affected by the

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

tariqa expansionism of the 13th century. In the late 14th century, the Yüreğir Turks moved to Cilicia and had a distinct culture with influence from

Bektashi Bektashism (, ) is a tariqa, Sufi order of Islam that evolved in 13th-century western Anatolia and became widespread in the Ottoman Empire. It is named after the wali, ''walī'' "saint" Haji Bektash Veli, with adherents called Bektashis. The ...

traditions of shamanic rituals along with

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

History

Mongol invasion The Mongol invasions and conquests took place during the 13th and 14th centuries, creating history's largest contiguous empire, the Mongol Empire (1206–1368), which by 1260 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the Mongol devastati ...

of Asia forced

Oghuz Turks The Oghuz Turks ( Middle Turkic: , ) were a western Turkic people who spoke the Oghuz branch of the Turkic language family. In the 8th century, they formed a tribal confederation conventionally named the Oghuz Yabgu State in Central Asia ...

to migrate into

and

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

in great numbers. A Turkish tribe from Yüreğir in

Transoxiana Transoxiana or Transoxania (, now called the Amu Darya) is the Latin name for the region and civilization located in lower Central Asia roughly corresponding to eastern Uzbekistan, western Tajikistan, parts of southern Kazakhstan, parts of Tu ...

settled in the northern regions of

, from

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; , ) "Antioch on Daphne"; or "Antioch the Great"; ; ; ; ; ; ; . was a Hellenistic Greek city founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. One of the most important Greek cities of the Hellenistic period, it served as ...

to Gaza with the approval of the Sultan. They were known in the Middle East as '' Türkmens'' or ''Yüreğirli'' (en:from Yüreğir) Carte du Moyen-Orient en 1328-es

The

Ilkhanate The Ilkhanate or Il-khanate was a Mongol khanate founded in the southwestern territories of the Mongol Empire. It was ruled by the Il-Khans or Ilkhanids (), and known to the Mongols as ''Hülegü Ulus'' (). The Ilkhanid realm was officially known ...

fell into disarray after the death of Abu Sa'id, thus could not support Armenian Kingdom in guarding Cilicia. In addition, internal conflicts within the Armenian Kingdom made Türkmens turn their eyes to unstable Cilicia, and in 1352, Ramazan Beg led Turkmens to settle south of Çaldağı and founded their first settlement, Camili. Later that year, Ramazan Beg visited

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

and was assented by the Sultan to establish the new frontier ''Turkmen Emirate'' in Cilicia. Yüreğir Türkmens lived as a small community for 7 years in southeast of Adana, and named their new land, Yüreğir. In 1359, Mamluk Sultanate Army marched into Cilicia and took over Adana and Tarsus, two major cities of the plain, leaving few castles to the Armenians. In 1375, the Mamluks gained control of the remaining areas of Cilicia, thus ending three centuries of Armenian rule. The Mamluk Sultanate authorized Ramazan Beg's Türkmen Emirate to administer Cilicia, but took direct control of the towns of: Tarsus, Ayas, Sarvandikar, Sis at the four corners of Cilicia plain and appointed an

Amir Emir (; ' (), also transliterated as amir, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or ceremonial authority. The title has ...

and a Garrison for each. Tarsus, the former capital of

, were settled by the

moors The term Moor is an Endonym and exonym, exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslims, Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a s ...

that arrived from Egypt. The Türkmen Emirate which began to be known as the Ramadanids set the city of Adana as their center of power, and many Türkmen families of Yüreğir origin moved to the city. After the death of Ramazan Bey, his son Ibrahim Bey made an alliance with the Karaman Emirate. Alaeddin Bey and Ibrahim Bey together tried to remove the Mameluks' control in the province. After this

alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or sovereign state, states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an a ...

a great Mameluk army moved in and began to plunder but Ibrahim Bey's army achieved a great victory against the Mameluks in Belen. Also in this battle Temur Bey, the general of the Mameluks, had been captured. Yilboga, the amir of Aleppo moved on to the Turkmens after this defeat and he conquered Misis Castle. The Ramadanids played an important role in 15th century Ottoman-

Mamluk Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-so ...

relations, being a

buffer state A buffer state is a country geographically lying between two rival or potentially hostile great powers. Its existence can sometimes be thought to prevent conflict between them. A buffer state is sometimes a mutually agreed upon area lying between t ...

located in the Mamluk ''

al-'Awasim ''Al-ʿAwāṣim'' (, "the defences, fortifications"; sing. ''al-ʿāṣimah'', , "protectress") was the Arabic term used to refer to the Muslim side of the frontier zone between the Byzantine Empire and the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates in Cil ...

'' frontier zone. In 1516,

Selim I Selim I (; ; 10 October 1470 – 22 September 1520), known as Selim the Grim or Selim the Resolute (), was the List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520. Despite lasting only eight years, his reign is ...

incorporated the beylik into the Ottoman Empire after his conquest of the Mamluk state. The

bey Bey, also spelled as Baig, Bayg, Beigh, Beig, Bek, Baeg, Begh, or Beg, is a Turkic title for a chieftain, and a royal, aristocratic title traditionally applied to people with special lineages to the leaders or rulers of variously sized areas in ...

s of Ramadanids held the administration of the Ottoman

sanjak A sanjak or sancak (, , "flag, banner") was an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans also sometimes called the sanjak a liva (, ) from the name's calque in Arabic and Persian. Banners were a common organization of nomad ...

in a hereditary manner until 1608, with the last 92 years as a vassal of the Ottomans. Ottoman empire

Architecture

Ramazanoğlu Hall, which is used currently as a cultural center, was the state residence of the Principality. The administration hall of the Principality does not exist today.

Ramadanid rulers

# Ramaḍān (1353) # Ibrāhīm I (1378–1383) # Shihāb al-Dīn Ahmad (1383–1416) # Ibrāhīm II (1416–1418) # ʿIzz al-Dīn Hamza (1418–1426) # Meḥmed I (1426–1435) # Eylük (1435–1439) # Dündār (1439–1470) # ʿUmar (1470–1485) # Gıyâseddîn Halil (1485–1510) # Maḥmūd (I. 1510-1514- II. 1516–1517) # Selīm (1514–1516) # Qubādh (1517–1520) # Pīrī Mehmed (1520–1568) # Darwīsh (1568–1569) # Ibrāhīm III (1569–1589) # Meḥmed II (1589–1594) # Pīr Mansūr (1594–1608)

Genealogy of House of Ramadan

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ramadanids History of Adana Province History of Mersin Province Ramadanid Emirate States and territories disestablished in 1608