Babar was born in Farghana, a kingdom in what is now Afghanistan. In his early life Babar tried unsuccessfully to conquer Samarkand which had been the capital of Tamerlane.

In 1505 he was forced to flee over the Hindukush to Afghanistan. There his band increased, and he made himself master of Kabul.

He assembled an army and then laid claim to the Punjab, because Tamerlane had conquered it a hundred years before. He defeated the Sultan of Delhi in the battle of Panipat (1525) and assumed the title of Emperor of Hindustan establishing thus the rule of the Moguls that lastet until 1858.

(The word Mogul or Mughal derives from the Arabic word for Mongol).