Person1336 – 1405

Timur

Also called: Tamerlane, Tamburlaine, Amir Timur

Conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire (r. 1370–1405), sweeping across western and Central Asia from his capital Samarkand; he died marching on Ming China

He was born near Kesh, south of Samarkand, into the Barlas, a Mongolised Turkic tribe. A leg wound from his youth left him lame, earning him the Persian name Timur-i Lang, “Timur the Lame”, which became Tamerlane in Europe. After becoming master of Transoxiana in 1370 he spent thirty-five years conquering Iran, Iraq, the Golden Horde, India, Syria and Anatolia, destroying many cities. He died of illness at Otrar in 1405 while marching against Ming China.

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2 related events

1370 – 1507Founding of the Timurid Empireleader
In a Central Asia where the Chagatai Khanate had split, the Turkic commander Timur built a state with its capital at Samarkand and, proclaiming the revival of the Mongol empire, swept across western Asia.
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1402Battle of Ankaracommander
Timur defeated the Ottoman army near Ankara and captured Sultan Bayezid I, plunging the Ottoman state into civil war for a time.

People who appear alongside

Ulugh Beg1394 – 1449
Grandson of Timur who ruled Samarkand and worked as an astronomer, building a great observatory and compiling a star catalogue
Bayezid I1360 – 1403
Ottoman sultan (r. 1389–1402), called “the Thunderbolt”, who crushed a crusade at Nicopolis but was captured by Timur at the Battle of Ankara

Themes this person appears in

Turkic-Islamic Empires and Other Civilizations1000 – 1533
From the Ghaznavid raids on India to the Mughal Empire and Suleiman I — five centuries in which Turkic-led Islamic empires took western Asia and India, while Africa, Southeast Asia and the Americas raised civilisations of their own