ABSTRACT
Beginning in the early sixteenth century, with Bābur, the first of the great Mughals, Muslims asserted control over the (mostly Hindu) northern regions of India. On his father's side, Bābur claimed descent from Timur (also known to English speakers as Tamerlane and Tamburlaine), who had headed one of the famed "Mongolian hordes" on a raid through India. On his mother's side, Bābur thought himself descended from another well-known Mongolian conqueror, Genghis Khan. In the early years of the sixteenth century, Bābur made many forays into what was then called Hindustan from his base in Kābul, north of India. By 1527 he had conquered most of north central Hindustan, an empire's worth of kingdoms. Amber was one of the smaller of these.
