---
title: "Ulugh Beg"
chunk: 3/4
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulugh_Beg"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:07:23.755017+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

Ulugh Beg led two major campaigns against his neighbours. This first one took place in 1425 and was directed against Moghulistan and its ruler Shir Muhammad. He was victorious but the impact of the campaign was limited and Shir Muhammad remained in power. A year later, Baraq, Khan of the Golden Horde and former protégé of Ulugh Beg, laid claim to Timurid possessions around the Syr Darya, including the town of Sighnaq. In response to that, in 1427 Ulugh Beg, accompanied by his brother Muhummad Juki, marched against Baraq. In a hill close to Sighnaq the Timurid army was surprised by a smaller enemy force but was soundly defeated. The humiliation suffered at the hands of Baraq was to have a lasting effect on Ulugh Beg. His campaign against the Golden Horde would be the last he would undertake against a neighbouring power. The armies he later sent against them would not win any resounding victories and by the end of his reign his territories would be raided by his northern and easterly foes.
In 1439, the Zhengtong emperor ordered an artist to produce a painting of a black horse with white feet and a white forehead that had been sent by Ulugh Beg. Six years later, the Ming emperor sent a letter to Ulugh Beg in order to express his gratitude for all the "tribute"  from Samarqand.  The emperor sent "vessels made of gold and jade, a spear with a dragon's head, a fine horse with saddle, and variegated gold-embroidered silk stuffs" to Ulugh Beg, as well as silk stuffs and garments for the Timurid prince's family.

== War of succession and death ==

In 1447, upon learning of the death of his father Shah Rukh, Ulugh Beg went to Balkh. Here, he heard that Ala al-Dawla, the son of his late brother Baysunghur, had claimed the rulership of the Timurid Empire in Herat. Consequently, Ulugh Beg marched against Ala al-Dawla and met him in battle at Murghab. He defeated his nephew and advanced toward Herat, massacring its people in 1448. However, Abul-Qasim Babur Mirza, Ala al-Dawla's brother, came to the latter's aid and defeated Ulugh Beg.
Ulugh Beg retreated to Balkh where he found that its governor, his oldest son Abdal-Latif Mirza, had rebelled against him. Another civil war ensued. Abdal-Latif recruited troops to meet his father's army on the banks of the Amu Darya river. However, Ulugh Beg was forced to retreat to Samarkand before any fighting took place, having heard news of turmoil in the city. Abdal-Latif soon reached Samarkand and Ulugh Beg involuntarily surrendered to his son. Abd-al-Latif released his father from custody, allowing him to make pilgrimage to Mecca. However, he ensured Ulugh Beg never reached his destination, having him, as well as his brother Abdal-Aziz assassinated in 1449. 
Eventually, Ulugh Beg's reputation was rehabilitated by his nephew, Abdallah Mirza (1450–1451), who placed his remains at Timur's feet in the Gur-e-Amir in Samarkand, where they were found by Soviet archaeologists in 1941.

== Marriages ==
Ulugh Beg had sixteen consorts:

Aka Begi, daughter of Muhammad Sultan Mirza bin Jahangir Mirza and Khan Sultan Khanika, mother of Habiba Sultan known as Khanzada Begum and another Khanzada Begum;
Sultan Badi al-mulk Begum, daughter of Khalil Sultan bin Miran Shah and Shad Malik Agha;
Aqi Sultan Khanika, daughter of Sultan Mahmud Khan Ogeday;
Husn Nigar Khanika, daughter of Shams-i-Jahan Khan Chaghatay;
Shukr Bi Khanika, daughter of Darwīsh Khan of the Golden Horde;
Rukaiya Sultan Agha, an Arlat lady, and mother of Abdal-Latif Mirza, Ak Bash Begum and Sultan Bakht Begum;
Mihr Sultan Agha, daughter of Tukal bin Sarbuka;
Sa'adat Bakht Agha, daughter of Bayan Kukaltash, mother of Qutlugh Turkhan Agha;
Daulat Sultan Agha, daughter of Khawand Sa'id;
Bakhti Bi Agha, daughter of Aka Sufi Uzbek;
Daulat Bakht Agha, daughter of Sheikh Muhammad Barlas;
Sultanim Agha, mother of Abdul Hamid Mirza and Abdul Jabrar Mirza;
Sultan Malik Agha, daughter of Nasir-al-Din, mother of Ubaydullah Mirza, Abdullah Mirza and another Abdullah Mirza;
A daughter of Abu'l-Khayr Khan, khan of Uzbek Khanate;
Khutan Agha;
A daughter of Aqila Sultan;

== Legacy ==

The crater, Ulugh Beigh, on the Moon, was named after him by the German astronomer Johann Heinrich von Mädler on his 1830 map of the Moon.
2439 Ulugbek, a main-belt asteroid which was discovered on 21 August 1977 by N. Chernykh at Nauchnyj, was named after him.
The 2017 documentary The Man Who Unlocked The Universe is based on his life, with Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva as executive producer.
The dinosaur Ulughbegsaurus was named after him in 2021.

== Exhumation ==
Soviet anthropologist Mikhail M. Gerasimov reconstructed the face of Ulugh Beg through the analysis of the remains that were exhumed from his tomb in 1941. Like his grandfather Timurlane, Ulugh Beg is close to the Mongoloid type with slightly Europoid features. His father Shah Rukh had predominantly Caucasoid features, with no obvious Mongoloid feature.

== See also ==
Aryabhata, ancient Indian astronomer
Ulugh Beg Observatory and Museum
Ulugh Beg Madrasa in Samarkand
Ulugh beg Madrasa in Bukhara

== Notes ==

== References ==