Shaybānī Khān achieved the conquest of Transoxiana in A.H. 906 (1500),[431] but soon after this event Zahīr ud-Dīn Bāber, then aged nineteen, entered that country and captured Samarkand, Soghd, Miyānkul, Karshī, 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,[432] he had made himself master of Transoxiana, Farghāna, Khwārazm, and Hisār.
His attention was now turned towards Khorāsān, which was in the hands of Husayn Mīrzā, also called Sultan Husayn Baykara, a descendant of Tīmūr’s second son, `Omar Shaykh. In A.H. 912 (1506) Bāber, hearing of the Uzbeg designs, marched northwards from Kābul to assist his relatives.[433] But in the interval Mīrzā Husayn 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 Kābul and left them to fight their own battles. In this year Shaybānī Khān, entering Khorāsān, 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 Isma`īl, the Safavī,—who eight years previously had overthrown the Turkoman dynasty of the “White Sheep” in Āzerbāyjān, and had set upon the conquest of all Persia,—now marched into Khorāsān. Here he defeated and slew Shaybānī Khān in the vicinity of Merv, thereby making himself master of the whole country.[434]
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 Shaybānī Khān was succeeded in the chief Khānate 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.[435]
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 out from Kābul, 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 Hisār, where it was now reinforced by a larger body of Persians, sent by Shāh Isma`īl, who made common cause with Bāber against the Uzbegs. The united forces, numbering 60,000 men, next marched against Karshī, 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 Karshī 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 Turkestān.[436] 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 Turkestān, 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 Tīmūr. But the enthusiasm of the orthodox Sunnis began to cool when they found that Bāber still maintained cordial relations with the Shi`ite Shāh Isma`īl 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.[437] Their main body took the direction of Tashkent, while `Ubaydullah, with the remainder, proceeded to Bokhārā by way of Yati Kudūk.[438] Bāber also advanced on Bokhārā at the head of 40,000 well-equipped men, and overtook `Ubaydullah at Kūl-Melik.[439]
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 Hisār, after a reign of just eight months.[440]
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 Shāh Isma`īl, under Amīr Yār Ahmed Isfahānī, known as Najm-i-Sāni, or the Second Star, passed the Iron Gates and, entering Karshī, massacred the inhabitants and sacked the town. On the east, the Khān of Moghūlistan, on learning Bāber’s success at Karshī, marched out by way of Andijān to attack Suyunjik Khān, one of the chief Uzbeg Sultans. An encounter took place at Bishkand,[441] 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[442] they encountered Jānībeg Sultan,[443] who had thrown himself into the fort. A fierce battle ensued, which is vividly described by Mīrzā Haydar in the following words: “The Uzbeg Sultans entered the fort on the same night on which the Turkomans and Bāber, who were encamped before the place, were busy preparing their siege implements. At dawn they arranged their forces in the midst of the suburbs, and stood facing the enemy. On the other side, too, preparations were made for a fight. Since the Uzbegs were in the suburbs, the field of battle was a narrow one. The Uzbeg infantry began to pour forth a shower of arrows from every quarter, so that soon the grip of Islām wrenched aside the hands of heresy and unbelief, and victory declared for the true faith.[444] The victorious breezes of Islām overturned the banners of the schismatics. The Turkomans were so completely routed that most of them perished on the field; all the wounds that had been effected by the swords at Karshī were now sewn up by the arrow-stitches of vengeance. They sent Mīr Najm and all the Turkoman Amīrs to hell; and the emperor retired, broken and crestfallen, to Hisār.” Bāber now determined on relinquishing his designs on Transoxiana, and, returning to Kābul, he prepared for an easier conquest—that of Hindustān. On gaining possession of Transoxiana, the Shaybānides divided it into a number of appanages, the eldest Sultan usually assuming the leadership of the rest. His name alone was read in the public prayers throughout the whole empire, and appeared on the coins of all the states which composed it.
For nearly ninety-nine years did the Shaybānīs, that is, the descendants of Abū-l-Khayr Khān,[445] rule in Transoxiana. M. Veliaminof-Zernof was the first to elucidate the complications in their system of government during the sixteenth century.[446] In his article on the coins of Bokhārā and Khiva, above quoted, he published a list of the chief Khāns, whom he calls the Khākāns, of the Shaybānīs, and also a genealogical table showing their descent from Abū-l-Khayr Khān.[447]
The separate appanages passed from father to son, and thus the residence of the Khākān, or chief Khān, was continually changing from one city to another. Thus Bokhārā lost its proud position as capital of Transoxiana, and took rank with other towns as the headquarters of successive chiefs.[448]