Babur

Founder of the Mughal Empire and author of the Baburnama.

Babur, born Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad on 14 February 1483, founded the Mughal Empire in South Asia after defeating Ibrahim Lodi at the First Battle of Panipat in 1526.^[1][2] His memoirs, the Baburnama, written in Chagatai, are the main source for details of his life.^[3] Through his father, Babur was a descendant of Timur, and through his mother, a descendant of Genghis Khan.^[1]

Last updated 2026-09-30 from the source article.

Quick Facts

Reign: 21 April 1526 – 26 December 1530
Predecessor: Position established, Ibrahim Lodi (as Sultan of Delhi)
Successor: Humayun

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Babur became the Timurid ruler of Fergana at age eleven after his father's death in 1494.^[4] He besieged and captured Samarkand in 1497 at age fifteen, but lost both Samarkand and Fergana soon after.^[5][6] After wandering in exile, he captured Kabul in October 1504 and re-established his fortunes.^[7] Babur then turned his attention to India, marching on Delhi and defeating Ibrahim Lodi's army at Panipat in 1526 using field artillery and linked carts.^[8][9]

His remains were later moved to Kabul and reburied according to his wishes.^[10] Babur and Shah Ismail of the Safavid dynasty formed an alliance to regain ancestral lands; as part of this, Babur briefly recaptured Samarkand in 1511 but subsequently lost it again.^[11] Babur's death occurred in 1530 at Agra, after which his son Humayun became his successor.^[10]

What the cited sources add

The Silk Road Seattle account notes that Babur's unsuccessful efforts to restore Mongol control forced him to abandon Ferghana for Afghanistan and then India.^[12] The same source states that Babur was born on the 6th of Moharram in the year 888, corresponding to 1483.^[12] It also records that after being driven from Samarkand in 1501, Babur ultimately sought greener pastures in Kabul and then northern India.^[13] According to the "Memoirs of Babur" account, the Baburnama is described as the first genuine autobiography found within Islamic literature.^[13]

References

Wikipedia, "Babur" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Baumer, "The History of Central Asia: The Age of Islam and the Mongols", Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018, p. 47; ; Canfield, "Turko-Persia in historical perspective", Cambridge University Press, 1991, p. 20; Jahangir, "The Jahangirnama : memoirs of Jahangir, Emperor of India", Washington, D.C. : Freer Gallery of Art, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; New York : Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 6 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Babur" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gilbert, "South Asia in World History", Oxford University Press, 2017, p. 75– (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Babur" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hiro, "Babur Nama: Journal of Emperor Babur", Penguin Books India, 2006, p. xviii; Dale, "The garden of the eight paradises: Bābur and the culture of Empire in Central Asia, Afghanistan and India (1483–1530)", Brill, 2004, p. 15, 150; Hiro, "Babur Nama: Journal of Emperor Babur", Penguin Books India, 2006, p. xviii (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Babur" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Babur, the first Moghul emperor: Wine and tulips in Kabul", 16 December 2010, p. 80–82; Eraly 2007, p. 18–20; Lal, "Domesticity and Power in the Early Mughal World", Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 69; Eraly 2007, p. 18–20 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Babur" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ewans, "Afghanistan: A Short History of Its People and Politics", HarperCollins, 2002, p. 26–27; Eraly 2007, p. 18–20; Eraly 2007, p. 18–20; Ewans, "Afghanistan: A Short History of Its People and Politics", HarperCollins, 2002, p. 26–27; Eraly 2007, p. 18–20; Eraly 2007, p. 18–20 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Babur" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Mahajan, "History of medieval India", S Chand, 2007, p. 428–29; Eraly 2007, p. 18–20 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Babur" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ewans, "Afghanistan: A Short History of Its People and Politics", HarperCollins, 2002, p. 26–27; "The First Afghan Empire In India (1451-1526 A.D.)", p. 214; Mahajan, "History of medieval India", S Chand, 2007, p. 428–29 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Babur" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Mahajan, "History of medieval India", S Chand, 2007, p. 428–29; Chaurasia, "History of medieval India : from 1000 A.D. to 1707 A.D.", Atlantic Publ., 2002, p. 89–90; Beveridge, "Bābur-nāma a memoir", 2017, p. 303; Chaurasia, "History of medieval India : from 1000 A.D. to 1707 A.D.", Atlantic Publ., 2002, p. 89–90; Dale, "The Garden of the Eight Paradises: Bābur and the Culture of Empire in Central Asia, Afghanistan and India (1483–1530)", Brill, 2004, p. 316; Chandra, "Medieval India", National Council of Educational Research and Training, 1978, en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Babur" (CC BY-SA 4.0) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Babur" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Necipoğlu, "Muqarnas: An Annual on the Visual Culture of the Islamic World", Brill, 1997, p. 135 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Babur" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sicker, "The Islamic World in Ascendancy: From the Arab Conquests to the Siege in Vienna", Bloomsbury Academic, 2000, p. 189; Mahajan, "History of medieval India", S Chand, 2007, p. 428–29; Eraly 2007, p. 18–20; Erdogan, "Babür İmparatorluğu'nun Kuruluş Safhasında Şah İsmail ile Babür İttifakı", History Studies: International Journal of History, July 2014, p. 31–39 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
"Mirza Muhammad Haidar", Silk Road Seattle. facts only, no text reused. depts.washington.edu
"The Memoirs of Babur", Silk Road Seattle. facts only, no text reused. depts.washington.edu

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Babur (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.