Editing Babur (section)

=== As ruler of Fergana ===
In 1494, eleven-year-old Babur became the ruler of Fergana, in present-day Uzbekistan, after Umar Sheikh Mirza died "while [[Pigeon keeping|tending pigeons]] in an ill-constructed [[dovecote]] that toppled into the [[ravine]] below the palace".<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Babur, the first Moghul emperor: Wine and tulips in Kabul |url=http://www.economist.com/node/17723207 |magazine=The Economist |date=16 December 2010 |pages=80–82 |access-date=12 June 2015 |archive-date=15 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170115140216/http://www.economist.com/node/17723207 |url-status=live }}</ref> 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.{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=18–20}} His uncles were relentless in their attempts to dislodge him from this position as well as from many of his other territorial possessions to come.<ref>{{cite book|title=Domesticity and Power in the Early Mughal World |last=Lal |first=Ruby |isbn=0-521-85022-3 |year=2005 |page=69 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |quote=It was over these possessions, provinces controlled by uncles, or cousins of varying degrees, that Babur fought with close and distant relatives for much of his life.}}</ref> Babur was able to secure his throne mainly because of help from his maternal grandmother, [[Aisan Daulat Begum]], although there was also some luck involved.{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=18–20}}

Most territories around his kingdom were ruled by his relatives, who were descendants of either Timur or Genghis Khan, and were constantly in conflict.{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=18–20}} At that time, rival princes were fighting over the city of Samarkand to the west, which was ruled by his paternal cousin.{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=6-7}} Babur had a great ambition to capture the city.{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=6-7}} In 1497, he [[Siege of Samarkand (1497)|besieged Samarkand]] for seven months before eventually gaining control over it.<ref name="Afghanistan">{{cite book |last=Ewans |first=Martin |year=2002 |title=Afghanistan: A Short History of Its People and Politics |url=https://archive.org/details/afghanistan00mart |url-access=registration |publisher=HarperCollins |pages=[https://archive.org/details/afghanistan00mart/page/26 26]–27 |isbn=0-06-050508-7 |quote=Babur, while still in his teens, conceived the ambition of conquering Samarkand. In 1497, after a seven months' siege, he took the city, but his supporters gradually deserted him and Ferghana was taken from him in his absence. Within a few months he was compelled to retire from Samarkand&nbsp;... Eventually he retook Samarkand, but was again forced out, this time by an Usbek leader, Shaibani Khan&nbsp;... Babur decided in 1504 to trek over the Hindu Kush to Kabul, where the current ruler promptly retreated to Kandahar and left him in undisputed control of the city.}}</ref> He was fifteen years old and for him the campaign was a huge achievement.{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=18–20}} Babur was able to hold the city despite desertions in his army, but he later fell seriously ill.{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=6-7}} Meanwhile, a rebellion back home, approximately {{convert|350|km|mi}} away, amongst nobles who favoured his brother, robbed him of Fergana.<ref name="Afghanistan" /> As he was marching to recover it, he lost Samarkand to a rival prince, leaving him with neither.{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=18–20}} He had held Samarkand for 100 days, and he considered this defeat as his biggest loss, obsessing over it even later in his life after his conquests in India.{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=18–20}}

For three years, Babur concentrated on building a strong army, recruiting widely amongst the Tajiks of [[Badakhshan]] in particular. In 1500–1501, he again laid [[Siege of Samarkand (1501)|siege to Samarkand]], and indeed he took the city briefly, but he was in turn besieged by his most formidable rival, [[Muhammad Shaybani]], [[Khan (title)|Khan]] of the Uzbeks.<ref name="Afghanistan" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/babur/babur1.html |quote=After being driven out of Samarkand in 1501 by the Uzbek Shaibanids&nbsp;... |title=The Memoirs of Babur |access-date=8 November 2006 |work=Silk Road Seattle |publisher=[[University of Washington]] |archive-date=21 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191021154433/https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/babur/babur1.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The situation became such that Babar was compelled to give his sister, Khanzada, to Shaybani in marriage as part of the peace settlement. Only after this were Babur and his troops allowed to depart the city in safety. Samarkand, his lifelong obsession, was thus lost again. He then tried to reclaim Fergana, but lost the battle there also and, escaping with a small band of followers, he wandered the mountains of central Asia and took refuge with hill tribes. By 1502, he had resigned all hopes of recovering Fergana; he was left with nothing and was forced to try his luck elsewhere.<ref name="VDM0">{{cite book|last=Mahajan|first=V.D.|title=History of medieval India|year=2007|publisher=S Chand|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-81-219-0364-6|edition=10th|pages=428–29}}</ref>{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=21–23}} He finally went to [[Tashkent]], which was ruled by his maternal uncle, but he found himself less than welcome there. Babur wrote, "During my stay in Tashkent, I endured much poverty and humiliation. No country, or hope of one!"{{sfn|Eraly|2007|pp=21–23}} Thus, during the ten years since becoming the ruler of Fergana, Babur suffered many short-lived victories and was without shelter and in exile, aided by friends and peasants.