In the summer of 1494 a twelve-year-old boy named Zahir-ud-din Muhammad, remembered as Babur, the tiger, became ruler of Fergana, a green valley in Central Asia. His father had died when the dovecote he was standing on slid into a ravine.
Babur was descended from Timur on his father's side and from Genghis Khan on his mother's. Royal blood brought him no peace: uncles and cousins all wanted his throne, and twice he captured the great city of Samarkand only to lose it again.
By the time he was twenty, Babur had lost Fergana as well. He wandered the hills with a few hundred loyal men, sleeping in shepherds' tents. Yet he kept a diary, and in it he wrote that a king without a kingdom must still behave like a king.
All episodes of Babur to Akbar
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1
The Prince of Fergana
1 min read
In 1494 a twelve-year-old boy inherits a small kingdom and a world of enemies.
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2
The Road to Panipat
1 min read
With guns, carts and a gamble, Babur meets the Sultan of Delhi on an April morning in 1526.
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3
The Boy Emperor
1 min read
Crowned in a garden at thirteen, Akbar must win back an empire his father barely held.
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4
A City of Red Sandstone
1 min read
Akbar builds a new capital on a ridge near Agra, and names it for victory.
