EARLY DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS BETWEEN THE BUKHARAN KHANATE AND THE MUGHAL SULTANATE:AN ANALYSIS OF THE POLITICAL SITUATION AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 16th CENTURY

Abstrak

This article analyses the early diplomatic relations that formed between the Bukharan Khanate and the nascent Mughal Sultanate during the first decades of the sixteenth century. The loss of Babur’s control over Transoxiana following Muhammad Shaybani Khan’s campaigns of 1500–1512, his retreat to Kabul, and his eventual conquest of Hindustan in 1526 opened a new chapter in Central Asian political history. The article examines the diplomatic exchanges, border contestations, the triangulating role of Safavid Iran, and the sharply competitive political environment in which the territorial ambitions of both polities collided. Drawing upon Persian-language primary sources, Babur’s own memoirs, and modern historiographical scholarship, the study demonstrates the complex and multi-layered nature of the foundational relationship between the two states during the first quarter of the sixteenth century.