The first Mogul Emperor of India (1526–30). He was born in Ferghana, Central Asia, in a princely family of mixed Mongol and Turkish blood. Failure to recover his father’s lands caused him to turn reluctantly south-east, for India seemed to present the last hope for his ambitions. Defeat of Ibrahim Lodi, the Afghan ruler of Delhi, at the Battle of Panipat in 1526 initiated 200 years of strong Mogul rule in India. Having conquered much of northern India, Babur ruled by force, lacking any civil administration. In addition to his military genius, he possessed a love of learning and wrote his own memoirs.