Babur

Rule in Central Asia

                

As ruler of Farghana

                                              

In 1495, at twelve years of age, Babur became the ruler of Farghana, present-day Uzbekistan, after Umar Sheikh Mirza died in a freak accident.^[21] During this time, two of his uncles from the neighbouring kingdoms, who were hostile to his father, and a group of nobles who wanted his younger brother Jahangir to be the ruler, threatened his succession to the throne.^[5] His uncles were relentless in their attempts to dislodge him from this position as well as many of his other territorial possessions to come.^[22] Babur was able to secure his throne partly due to help from his maternal grandmother, Aisan Daulat Begum.^[5]

Most territories around his kingdom were ruled by his relatives, who were descendants of either Timur or Genghis Khan, and were constantly in conflict.^[5] At that time, rival princes were fighting over the city of Samarkand to the west, which was ruled by his paternal cousin. Babur had a great ambition to capture it and in 1497, he besieged Samarkand for seven months before eventually gaining control over it.^[23] He was fifteen years old and for him, this campaign was a huge achievement.^[5] Babur was able to hold it despite desertions in his army but later fell seriously ill. Meanwhile, a rebellion amongst nobles who favoured his brother, back home approximately 350 kilometres (220 mi) away robbed him of Farghana.^[23] As he was marching to recover it, he lost the Samarkand to a rival prince, leaving him with neither Farghana nor Samarkand.^[5] He had held Samarkand for 100 days and he considered this defeat as his biggest loss and would obsess over it even later in his life after his conquest of India.^[5]

In 1501, he laid siege on Samarkand once more, but was soon defeated by his most formidable rival, Muhammad Shaybani, khan of the Uzbeks.^[23][24] Samarkand, his lifelong obsession, was lost again. He tried to reclaim Farghana but lost it too and escaping with a small band of followers, he wandered to the mountains of central Asia and took refuge with hill tribes. Thus, during the ten years since becoming the ruler of Farghana, Babur suffered many short-lived victories and was without shelter and in exile, aided by friends and peasants.^[25] He finally stayed in Tashkent, which was ruled by his maternal uncle. Babur wrote, "During my stay in Tashkent, I endured much poverty and humiliation. No country, or hope of one!"^[25] For three years Babur concentrated on building up a strong army, recruiting widely amongst the Tajiks of Badakhshan in particular. By 1502, Babur had resigned all hopes of recovering Farghana, he was left with nothing and was forced to try his luck someplace else.^[26]