ruler of Egypt and Syria in 1199.
The castle played an important role as a place of exile and a power base several times during the Mamluk Sultanate. Its significance lay in its control over the caravan route between Damascus and Egypt and the pilgrimage route between Damascus and Mecca. In the thirteenth century the Mamluke ruler Baibars used it as a stepping stone on his climb to power. In 1389 Sultan Barquq was exiled to al-Karak were he gathered his supporters before returning to Cairo.
Al-Karak was the birthplace of Ibn al-Quff, an Arab physician and surgeon and author of the earliest medieval Arabic treatise intended solely for surgeons.
Modern history
For most of nineteenth century Karak was ruled by the Al Majali tribe, who originally came from Hebron. They had been preceded by the Saraieh, who in turn had replaced the once dominant El 'Ahmer. In 1844 Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt sent an expedition west of the Dead Sea. His troops occupied the castle at Karak but they were starved out with much loss of life. Mohammed Al Majali who had control of Karak in 1868, was involved in the events that led to the destruction of the Moabite Stone. In 1893 the Sublime Porte Abdul Hamid II established the sub-province of Ma'an, with a resident governor (Mutasarif) in Kerak, under the Wāli of Syria based in Damascus. One of the first governors, 1895, was Hussein Helmy Bey Effendi, aged 40, formerly the General Secretary at Damascus. He ruled with a garrison of 1,200 troops, in 3 regiments, mostly conscripts from West of theRiver Jordan doing their three years of military service. There were also 200 Circassian cavalry. One of his achievements was the disarming of the local population. He also established a Military Hospital with a Jewish doctor; enforced the regulation of coinage and weights and measures; introduced a weekly postal service to Jerusalem, Damascus and Ma'an; and set up agricultural projects such as the planting of 5,000 grape
