Babur, Panipat, and the Founding of Mughal India

Zahir ud-Din Muhammad Babur (1483-1530), founder of the Mughal Empire, descended through his father's line directly from Timur (Tamerlane) and through his mother's line from Genghis Khan. Born in the small kingdom of Ferghana, he inherited its throne at eleven in 1494, repeatedly failed to hold Timur's legendary capital, Samarkand, and was ultimately driven from Central Asia by the Uzbeks. Settling in Kabul from 1504, he built a relatively small but technologically advanced army, incorporating artillery and firearms through Ottoman military advisers — technology not yet widely used on the Indian subcontinent.