Sher Shah Sur (Pashto: فريد خان شیر شاہ سوری – Šīr Šāh Sūrī, Bengali: শের শাহ সুরি; 1486 – May 22, 1545; birth name Farid Khan, also known as Sher Khan ) was the founder of the short-lived Sur Empire in northern India, with its capital at Delhi, before its demise in the hands of the resurgent Mughal Empire. An Afghan (Pathan) by origin, he defeated the Mughals and took control of North India in 1540 until an accidental death in 1545 when Islam Shah Suri became his successor. He first served as a private before rising to become a commander in the Mughal Army under Babur and then as the governor of Bihar. In 1537, when Babur's son Emperor Humayun was elsewhere on an expedition, Sher Khan turned against his master and overran the state of Bengal to establish the Sur Empire. A soldier of fortune, Sher Khan also proved himself a gifted administrator as well as an able general. His reorganization of the empire laid the foundations for the later Mughal emperors, notably Akbar the Great, son of Humayun.