Baba Sultan is one of the most reviled figures in Uzbek history. Despite the fact that he had all the rights to the Bukhara throne as the eldest in the family, he was initially pushed out of power by the descendants of the conqueror of Afghanistan, Janibek Khan. Baba-sultan himself was the son of the 8th Sheibanid Khan Nauruz Ahmed.
Baba Sultan was a protégé of the nomadic Uzbeks, who had not yet managed to move to sedentary life. Unlike the tarkhan Uzbeks who came to Maverannahr with Mohammed Sheibani and received huge plots of land for which they performed military service (nobles).
Under the pressure of the powerful Kazakh Khan Khak-Nazar, the nomadic Uzbeks were forced to migrate farther and farther into Maverannahr. Using this movement, Nauruz Ahmed Khan was able to capture Samarkand, which became the capital instead of Bukhara.
Registan Square in Samarkand
After the death of his father in 1556 , Baba Sultan ruled in the appanage Samarkand. He did not intend to unite the country and thought that the other Sheibanids also agreed to rule each in his ulus.
But they did not think so, and in 1557 a coalition of Sheibanids led by the ruler of Balkh Pirmukhammed Khan and Bukhara Khan Abdullah Khan II defeated the nomadic Uzbeks in the grove of Yilan-Uti (snake liver). They had to withdraw to Turkestan.
Baba Sultan submitted to Abdullah Khan II, recognizing him as the supreme ruler. He received support from him in the fight against the Kazakhs, which helped him to regain Yassy (Turkestan). In return, he participated in campaigns against the Kyzylbashs.
But in 1568-1576 Baba Sultan again intervened in the struggle for possession of Samarkand. Without success, as Abdullah-khan firmly clung to the former capital and Baba-sultan never managed to capture it.
Because of the fact that he was constantly defeated by Abdullah-khan, even his own brother Tashkent khan Dervish defected to Bukhara. Baba-sultan had to arrest him and include Tashkent in his inheritance.
Kukeldash madrassah in Tashkent, XVI century
In 1578 Abdullah Khan II launched an extensive attack on Baba Sultan’s possessions. He used the arrest of Dervish-khan as an excuse. By November 1578 Turkestan, Sygnak, Sauran and Tashkent were captured, Dervish-khan was restored to his khan’s position, and Baba-sultan was forced to beg for mercy and was spared. Turkestan was even left to him as an inheritance.
But in 1579 Baba-sultan again began to gather an army of Kazakhs, whom he allowed to settle near Yassy (Turkestan) and Sauran. Kazakh khan Hak-Nazar supported Baba-sultan, but Abdullah-khan II most likely organized a coup and Hak-Nazar’s cousin Shigai came to power.
In 1580 Baba-sultan executed Dervish-khan, and the population of Tashkent came to his side. Then he defeated Shigai Khan, who was supported only by a part of Kazakh tribes, who roamed near Yassy.
But in the battle near Chirchik Abdullah-khan II was able to defeat Baba-sultan and after that captured Tashkent. For three years after that Baba Sultan waged a guerrilla war against Shigai Khan’s Bukharans and Kazakhs. He constantly moved from Ulytau to Zhaik (Ural) and avoided battles with large detachments of troops. He was actively supported by Kazakhs and Nogais, for whom he was their native nomadic leader. This posed a great danger to the future Kazakh khan Taukel, who in August 1582 was able to track him down near Yassy (Turkestan) and kill him and his sons.
Photo of Turkestan of the XIX century, by A. L. Kuhn.
This was the end of not only Baba Sultan’s life, but also the history of nomadic Uzbeks. Kazakhs finally seized Yassy (Turkestan), and further tried to seize the whole of Maverannahr.
Under these conditions, Baba Sultan became the last steppe ruler who could still unite the nomads, no matter who they were — Uzbeks, Kazakhs, or Nogais. And in this respect he was a defense for the Bukhara Khanate against the steppes. However, due to the fact that nomadic Uzbeks waged an actual civil war with settled Uzbek nobles, behind whom Bukhara’s trade circles shone, this defense was destroyed.
Thus, in Maverannahr in the XVI century the situation with the Kai Turks, who in the XIV century came under the influence of Asia Minor, was repeated. As a result, a sub-ethnos of Ottomans (Christians who converted to Islam) was formed, which began to rule the Turkic peoples of Asia Minor. Other Turkic beyliks fought unsuccessfully against the Ottomans and were eventually defeated. The Turks were able to revive their ethnic state only in the 20th century.