Transoxiana under Mirzo Ulugh Beg

Mirzo Ulugh Beg (1394–1449) was appointed by Shahrukh in 1409, at fifteen, governor of Transoxiana and Turkestan, but at first his power covered only Samarkand, Bukhara and Nasaf. On 20 April 1410 he was defeated at Qizil Ravot by rebels led by Shaykh Nuriddin; Shahrukh came and put down the revolt, and from 1412 Ulugh Beg ruled Transoxiana fully, taking Fergana and Kashgar in 1414. In 1425 he won a battle against Moghulistan near Issyk-Kul; the spoils included a piece of nephrite, from which Amir Temur’s gravestone was later made, and a rock inscription in the Ilono‘tti gorge near Jizzakh recalls this campaign. After Shahrukh died on 12 March 1447, the princes again fought for the throne. Ulugh Beg and his son Abdullatif first took Herat, then Abdullatif turned against his father. In October 1449 Ulugh Beg lost a battle near the village of Damascus and was put to death; the sources call Abdullatif “parricide”, and he himself was killed less than seven months later.