A History of Agriculture in India v2.c67.9

v2.c67.9

Babur succeeded his father as ruler of Farghānā at the age of twelve. His rule of Farghānā for twenty-one years was a period of turmoil. His chief ambition in this period was to conquer the prestigious city of Samarkand built by his ancestor Timur, which was a great cultural centre of the Islamic world. This brought him into conflict with his own uncles, Ahmad Miranshahi and Mahmud Chaghatai, and later on with Shaibani Khan, the leader of Mongolo-Turkish tribe called the Uzbegs. Samarkand was a city of gardens dotted with mausoleums, including Gur-Amir, the tomb of Timur, ornamented with magnificent blue tiles. It also had the observatory of Ulugh Beg, which contained a gigantic quadrant with which he compiled his famous astronomical tables.