Timur

Timur, also known as Tamerlane, (1336–1405) was a Turco-Mongol conqueror and the founder of the Timurid Empire in Central Asia and Iran. Born in Shahrisabz (Kesh) in Transoxiana, he belonged to the Barlas confederation and claimed descent from Genghis Khan. He rose as a powerful warlord in the Chagatai Khanate and established a centralized state through extensive military campaigns.

Timur’s realm extended from parts of present-day Turkey and the Caucasus through Persia and Mesopotamia to the Indian subcontinent at its height. His campaigns included the sack of Delhi in 1398 and the decisive victory over the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I at the Battle of Ankara in 1402. While his conquests were known for their brutality, they also promoted Persianate culture and the patronage of scholars, artists, and architects.

The Timurid state was multiethnic and relied on a blend of nomadic and sedentary administration. Timur established Samarkand as a political and cultural center, and later control of Herat became prominent under his successors. After his death in 1405 during a return from campaigns in the east, the empire fragmented, though his lineage continued through his son Shah Rukh and notable descendants such as Ulugh Beg. The Timurid dynasty also influenced the later Mughal Empire in India, founded by Babur, a descendant of Timur.

Timur died in 1405 in Otrar (in present-day Kazakhstan) and was buried in the Gur-e Amir mausoleum in Samarkand.