orig. Ẓahīr al-Dīn Muḥammad
born Feb. 15, 1483, principality of Fergana
died Dec. 26, 1530, Agra, India
Emperor (1526–30) and founder of the Mughal dynasty of India.
A descendant of Genghis Khan and Timur , he came from a tribe of Mongol origin but was Turkish in language and upbringing. In his youth he tried for 10 years (1494–1504) to gain control of Samarkand, Timur's old capital. Those efforts ended in his losing his own principality in Fergana (modern Uzbekistan), but he consoled himself by seizing and holding Kabul (1504). After four failed attempts, he successfully occupied Delhi (1525). Surrounded by enemy states, Bābur (the name means "Tiger") persuaded his homesick troops to stand their ground, and over the next four years he defeated his foes. His grandson Akbar consolidated the new empire. Bābur was also a gifted poet and a lover of nature who constructed gardens wherever he went. The Bābur-nāmeh , his prose memoirs, has become a world classic of autobiography.