Tamerlane Tamburlaine
born 1336, Kesh, near Samarkand, Transoxania
died Feb. 19, 1405, Otrar, near Chimkent
Turkic conqueror of Islamic faith whose conquests reached from India and Russia to the Mediterranean Sea.
Timur took part in campaigns in Transoxania with Chagatai, a descendant of Genghis Khan (Timur Lenk, or Tamerlane, means “Timur the Lame,” reflecting the
battle wounds he received.) Through machinations and treachery he took
over Transoxania and proclaimed himself the restorer of the Mongol empire. In the 1380s he began his conquest of Iran (Persia), taking
Khorāsān and eastern Iran in 1383–85 and western Iran as far as
Mesopotamia and Georgia in 1386–94. He occupied Moscow for a year. When
revolts broke out in Iran, he ruthlessly suppressed them, massacring
the populations of whole cities. In 1398 he invaded India, leaving a
trail of carnage. Next he marched on Damascus and Baghdad, deporting
the artisans of the former to Samarkand and destroying all the monuments of the latter. In 1404 he prepared to
march on China but died early in the march. Although Timur strove to
make Samarkand the most splendid city in Asia, he himself preferred to
be always on the move. His most lasting memorials are the architectural
monuments of Samarkand and the dynasty he established, under which
Samarkand became a centre of scholarship and science.
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