140 LIVES OF THE MOGHUL EMPERORS. 
kingdom. One of his uncles died on his retreat to 
Samerkund, after being obliged to raise the siege of 
Andejan, the capital of Ferghana; the other was 
driven out of the country over which he aspired to 
reign. Baber, being now firmly seated on the throne 
of his hereditary dominions, appointed Hassan Yakub 
his visier, who immediately rebelled, but was slain by 
a detachment sent against him ; and on the following 
year, the young king having become reconciled to his 
maternal uncle Sultan Mahmood Khan, was left with- 
out a competitor. 
Towards the conclusion of 1497, Baber, then only 
fourteen years old, made himself master of Samerkund 
after a siege of seven months, ascended the throne, 
and was acknowledged king by the majority of the 
amyrs. This metropolis, according to the Oriental 
traditions, was founded by Sekundur,* but we find 
it earlier noticed under the name of Maracanda, as 
an important commercial mart : it was at this time 
one of the most distinguished cities of the East. 
As the sovereign forbade all plunder when Samer- 
kund capitulated, the Moghuls, disappointed in 
their expectations of a rich spoil, deserted, and, 
followed by several begs, repaired to Akhsi, the first 
district of Ferghana north of the Jaxartes, and go- 
verned by Baber’s younger brother Jehangire Mirza. 
From hence they despatched a messenger to the king, 
desiring that he would confer the government of An- 
dejan as well as of Akhsi on the prince his brother. 
Baber, irritated at this request, reflected in severe 
terms upon his nobles generally ; which so incensed 
* Alexander the Great. 
