Andijan

Andijan stands in the fertile eastern part of the Fergana Valley, where rivers descending from the surrounding mountains water fields and gardens. It became an important town of the valley and a centre of exchange on routes toward Kashgar. Its neighbourhood was also associated with revered tombs, including one attributed to the prophet Job. The city grew amid a region whose settled oases were closely connected with the mountain and steppe peoples around them.

The first Mongol attacks brought destruction, but Andijan recovered under rulers of the Chagatai world. The khan Duwa settled Turkish tribesmen in quarters of the town, and by the later medieval period Andijan had become a leading centre of Fergana. Its markets and craftsmen served both the valley and travellers crossing the mountains to the east. The town stood among the cultivated settlements that made Fergana a coveted prize for neighbouring rulers.

In 1483 the Timurid prince Babur was born here, the son of Umar Shaikh Mirza, ruler of Fergana. After his father's death in 1494, the young Babur inherited the principality and struggled to defend it against rival princes. Driven from his Central Asian homeland, he later established himself at Kabul and went on to found the Mughal dynasty in India. His memoirs preserved vivid memories of Fergana and the city of his birth.