The Mamluk institution lasted a millennia, and it’s hard to imagine none of them would be black. But Mamluks were Primarily Caucasian, that is, Circassian or Abkhazian and other nations of the Caucasus mountains. In the medieval period, Kipchak Turks also became Mamluks in large numbers.

Though, when Muhammad Ali rose to power in Egypt, he dispatched the Mamluks and replaced them with Sudanese slaves, who served a similar purpose to Mamluks but without their political influence.