Muhammad Sheibani

Muhammad Sheibani 

(also Muhammad Shaibani). Born 1451; died 1510. Founder of the feudal Sheibanid dynasty of Uzbek khans in 1500.

Muhammad Sheibani was a descendant of Sheiban, a grandson of Genghis Khan. In his youth, Muhammad Sheibani led the struggle to consolidate various nomadic tribes and restore the state that his grandfather Abulkhair had founded. However, he met strong resistance from the Kazakhs, who had been gradually forcing the tribes that supported Muhammad Sheibani southward.

At the end of the 15th century, Muhammad Sheibani undertook the conquest of the domains of the Timurids. By taking advantage of the feudal intestine war, the economic decline, and the sharp exacerbation of class contradictions in Maveraun-nahr (Transoxiana), he was able to subjugate that region with comparative ease. In 1505 he conquered Khwarazm and in 1507 Herat. Muhammad Sheibani encountered the resistance of the Safawid (Safavid) Empire in his drive southward and died in a battle with the forces of Shah Ismail I at Merv.

REFERENCE

Barto’d, V. V. “Sheibanidy.” Soch, vol. 2, part 2. Moscow, 1964.