was ruled over by Bātu, the conqueror of Russia, who had his residence in Sarai, on the Lower Volga.1

Another branch of the house of Jūji was the heritage of his fifth son, Shayban, whose dominions were contiguous with those of the White Horde.2 They became famous in the fifteenth century under the name of Uzbegs, and the origin of their name has given rise to many strange conjectures.

The real founder of the Uzbeg power was Abu-lKhayr, a descendant of Shaybān in the sixth degree, who was born in A.H. 816 (1413). His rule extended over the western portion of the present Kirghiz steppes. About the year A.H. 870 (1465) a number of these Uzbegs, discontented with their Khan, Abu-l-Khayr, migrated into Moghulistan, with the Sultans Giray and Jānībeg, of the line of Juji.3 Isan Bugha, the then Khan of Moghulistan, or Jatah, received them hospitably, and allotted them some territories on the river Chu, to the west of his own domains. These emigrants were subsequently known as the Uzbeg-Kazāks, or simply Kazāks. After the death of Abu-l-Khayr, in A.H. 874

1 Idem. Tūkā Timur, from whom sprang the Khans of the Crimea, was the youngest son of Jūji. Cf. Lane-Poole's Mohammedan Dynasties, p. 233. Tokhtamish, the inveterate foe of Tamerlane, belonged to the Crimean branch of the Khans of Dasht-i-Kipchak. The Khanate of Kazan was founded in 1439, on the remains of the Bulgarian Empire, by Ulugh Mohammed of the same line. 2 Bretschneider, loc. cit.

There seems some confusion on this point; I have followed VeliaminofZernof, but Bretschneider does not call this movement a migration of Uzbegs but a flight of the White Horde, whom he says were expelled from their original seats by Abu-l-Khayr. Cf. Tarikh-i-Rashidi, p. 82.

The results of M. Veliaminof-Zernof's careful researches into the history of the Kazāks were published in three volumes of the Memoirs of the Eastern Branch of St. Petersburg Archæological Society, under the title of The Emperors and Princes of the Line of Kasim. He called this dynasty the Kasimovski, after Kāsim Khān, the son of Jānībeg. Cf. also Levshin's Description of the Hordes and Steppes of the Kirghiz-Kazaks, St. Petersburg, 1864. Mīrzā Haydar says: "The Kazāk Sultans began to reign in

(1469), a large number of his Uzbegs passed into Moghulistan and joined their kinsmen.1

Abu-l-Khayr overran Khwārazm and part of Turkestān; and at the beginning of the sixteenth century his son Mohammad Shaybānī, also known as Shāhi Beg, made himself master of Samarkand and Transoxiana, and was the first of the so-called dynasty of the Shaybanides. It is more than a mere coincidence that the appearance of the Uzbegs and Kazāks in Southern Central Asia was contemporaneous with Russia's liberation from the Tartar yoke.

Shaybānī Khan achieved the conquest of Transoxiana in A.H. 906 (1500), but soon after this event Zahir udDin Baber, then aged nineteen, entered that country and captured Samarkand, Soghd, Miyankul, Karshi, and other strong places; Bokhārā alone remaining in the possession of the Uzbegs. However, in the following year, A.H. 907 (1501), Shaybānī Khān defeated Bāber and regained the lost territory. By A.H. 911 (1505), from which date historians reckon the commencement of his reign, he had made himself master of Transoxiana, Farghāna, Khwārazm, and Hisār.

3

His attention was now turned towards Khorasan, which was in the hands of Husayn Mīrzā, also called Sultan Husayn Baykara, a descendant of Timur's second son, 'Omar Shaykh. In A.H. 912 (1506) Bāber, hearing of the Uzbeg designs, marched northwards from Kabul to assist his relatives. But in the interval Mīrzā Husayn

A.H. 870 (1465), and continued to enjoy absolute power in the greater part of Uzbegistan till the year A. H. 940" (1533). See Tarikh-i-Rashidi, p. 82. 1 Tarikh-i-Rashidi, pp. 82 and 92.

2 Thus according to both the Tārikh-i-Tīmūrī and the Tarikh-i-Abū-lKhayr, quoted by Howorth, op. cit. ii. 695.

3 There is in the British Museum a silver coin of Shaybānī Khān, dated A.H. 910: Merv.

* An account of this campaign will be found in the Tarikh-i-Rashidi, p.

died, and Bāber, on his arrival in Khorāsān, A.H. 913 (1507), found that the two sons of the late prince had instituted a dual government. So disgusted was he with their lack of definite policy and their mutual recriminations, that he returned to Kabul and left them to fight their own battles. In this year Shaybānī Khān, entering Khorasan, defeated these ill-assorted colleagues and made himself master of the country. The next three years were passed in successful expeditions in the direction of Khorāsān and India, and against the Kazāks. But in A.H. 916 (1510) his career of conquest was brought to a sudden close. Shāh Ismail, the Safavī,— who eight years previously had overthrown the Turkoman dynasty of the "White Sheep" in Azerbāyjān, and had set upon the conquest of all Persia,-now marched into Khorāsān. Here he defeated and slew Shaybānī Khan in the vicinity of Merv, thereby making himself master of the whole country.1

For two years, from A.H. 916 to 918 (1510 to 1512) Transoxiana practically passed out of the hands of the Uzbeg Sultans. At all events, we find no coin of theirs during that period, though Persian historians aver that Shaybāni Khan was succeeded in the chief Khanate by Kuchunji. The nobles were probably too much occupied in providing for their own safety, after the disaster of Merv, to give consideration to the choice of a new chief.2

Bāber, on hearing of the death of Shaybānī Khān, and having been led to suppose that his presence would be attended by most important advantages, again set

243 et seq. The account of the Emperor Bāber's doings at this period are all the more interesting and valuable from the fact that in the famous Memoirs of Baber a break occurs from the year 1508 to the beginning of the year 1519; though an account is also given in the Tarikh-i-Ālam-Ārāy of Mirza Sikandar, which was used by Erskine in his History of India.

1 Lubb ut-Tawarikh, book III. pt. iii. chap. vi. Cf. Veliaminof-Zernof, op. cit. p. 247.

out from Kabul, and, entering Transoxiana, entirely defeated the Uzbeg army sent out to meet him under Hamza Sultan, A.H. 917 (1511). The Uzbegs were pursued as far as the Iron Gates. Meanwhile Bāber's victorious army assembled in Hisar, where it was now reinforced by a larger body of Persians, sent by Shāh Ismail, who made common cause with Bāber against the Uzbegs. The united forces, numbering 60,000 men, next marched against Karshi, where Sultan 'Ubaydullah had fortified himself, while the most of the Uzbeg Sultans had fled to Samarkand. On the march, Bāber learnt that 'Ubaydullah had abandoned Karshi and fled to Bokhārā. Bāber at once followed him, marching day and night until he reached the city, whence he drove 'Ubaydullah into the deserts of Turkestan.1 When the rest of the Uzbeg Sultans in Samarkand learnt this disaster, they were filled with terror and fled in disorder into different parts of Turkestan, leaving Bāber absolute master of Transoxiana. He now entered Samarkand amid the rejoicings of the people, who welcomed him as the rightful successor to the realms of Timur. But the enthusiasm of the orthodox Sunnis began to cool when they found that Bāber still maintained cordial relations with the Shi'ite Shah Isma'il and carried out the stipulation on which the alliance was based by recognising his suzerainty.

Becoming aware of the popular discontent, the Uzbeg Sultans collected their forces and marched out of Turkestān. Their main body took the direction of Tashkent, while 'Ubaydullah, with the remainder, proceeded to

1 Tarikh-i-Rashidi, p. 245.

2 Cf. Tarikh-i-Rashidi, p. 259. Cf. also Veliaminof-Zernof (p. 353), who bases his statements on the '.Abdullah Namé of Hafiz ibn Tanish. Copies of this valuable work are very scarce. Its scope and contents have been described (from a copy in the Imperial Academy in St. Petersburg) by M. Veliaminof-Zernof. See Mélanges Asiatiques de St. Petersbourg, vol. iii. p. 258

et seq.

Bokhārā by way of Yati Kudūk.1 Bāber also advanced on Bokhārā at the head of 40,000 well-equipped men, and overtook 'Ubaydullah at Kūl-Melik.2

The Uzbeg had only 3000 men under his command; but, nothing daunted by the fearful odds, he rallied his troops and attacked Bāber's force with such fury that, after a bloody encounter, he put them utterly to rout, A.H. 918 (1512). After this disaster Bāber returned to Samarkand, but, finding no supporters there, fled to Hisar, after a reign of just eight months.3

Though the Uzbegs were again masters of Transoxiana, their position was by no means secure. On the west, Bāber, with the aid of 60,000 Persians, sent at his request by Shah Isma'il, under Amir Yar Ahmed Isfahānī, known as Najm-i-Sani, or the Second Star, passed the Iron Gates and, entering Karshi, massacred the inhabitants and sacked the town. On the east, the Khan of Moghulistan, on learning Bāber's success at Karshi, marched out by way of Andijān to attack Suyunjik Khan, one of the chief Uzbeg Sultans. An encounter took place at Bishkand, in which the Khān was utterly defeated.

Meanwhile Bāber and his Persian auxiliaries were marching in the direction of Samarkand, causing great alarm among the Uzbegs. On reaching Ghujduvān 5 they encountered Jānībeg Sultan, who had thrown himself into the fort. A fierce battle ensued, which is

1 "The Seven Wells." V.-Zernof reads Yati Kuruk, which might mean "the Seven Walls." The former reading seems more probable.

2 On the locality of this place, cf. Vambéry's Bokhara, p. 257.

3 Cf. Tarikh-i-Rashidi, p. 260.

Probably to be identified with Panjakand, in the Zarafshan valley, forty miles east of Samarkand.

5 Some distance north of Bokhārā.

* Cf. Tarikh-i-Rashidi, p. 261. Howorth (ii. 713) says 'Ubaydullah was in this fort.