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Politics21 April 1526

Babur Founds the Mughal Empire

Also called: First Battle of Panipat, Founding of the Mughal Empire

Babur, a descendant of Timur, defeated Ibrahim Lodi of the Delhi Sultanate at the Battle of Panipat and founded the Mughal Empire.

The Battle of Panipat, from a 1598 manuscript of the Baburnama
The Battle of Panipat, from a 1598 manuscript of the Baburnama

1598 artist · Public domain · Source

Babur descended from Timur on his father’s side and from Genghis Khan on his mother’s. A minor ruler of Ferghana in Central Asia, he was pushed out by the Uzbeks and failed to hold Samarkand; after taking Kabul in 1504 he turned to India. On 21 April 1526 at Panipat, north of Delhi, he drew up his army behind a line of linked carts, fired cannon and muskets and enveloped the flanks with cavalry, defeating Ibrahim Lodi’s far larger army. Ibrahim was killed, and the Delhi Sultanate came to an end.

Babur took Delhi and Agra and the next year beat a Rajput coalition at Khanwa, winning northern India. Mughal means “Mongol” in Persian. He left a memoir in Turkic, the Baburnama. After his death in 1530 his son Humayun was driven out for a time before returning, and his grandson Akbar united most of northern India and gave the empire its framework. In the Mughal Empire Persian-Islamic and Indian cultures blended.

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States at the time
Mughal Empire · founded
Delhi Sultanate (Lodi dynasty) · fell
Places
Panipat

People

  • Babur1483 – 1530

    leader · Founder of the Mughal Empire (r. 1526–1530), a descendant of Timur who overthrew the Delhi Sultanate at the Battle of Panipat

  • Ibrahim Lodi1526

    monarch · Last sultan of Delhi of the Lodi dynasty (r. 1517–1526), killed fighting Babur at the Battle of Panipat

Before and after

Earlier
1510 Portuguese Capture of Goa and Malacca
Later
1556 The Reign of Akbar

Themes that include this event

  • Turkic-Islamic Empires and Other Civilizations1000 – 1533

    From the Ghaznavid raids on India to the Mughal Empire and Suleiman I — five centuries in which Turkic-led Islamic empires took western Asia and India, while Africa, Southeast Asia and the Americas raised civilisations of their own

  • Islamic Empires and the Atlantic World1500 – 1800

    Three centuries in which the Ottomans of Suleiman I, the Mughals of Akbar and the Safavids of Abbas I flourished and then faltered, while across the Atlantic the slave trade and colonies transformed the Americas, leading to American independence