Timur, better known as Tamerlan (born on April 9, 1336, in Kech, near Shakhrisabz, in present-day Uzbekistan, and died on February 18, 1405, in Otrar) was a Turkish-Mongolian warrior, who was conquered a large part of central and western Asia and founded the Timurid Empire in 1370 which existed until 1507.
In just over two decades, this Muslim nobleman of Turkish and Mongolian origin conquered 8 million square kilometers of Eurasia. Between 1382 to 1405 its great armies crossed the Eurasian continent from Delhi to Moscow, from the Tian Shan mountain range of Central Asia to the Taurus mountains of Anatolia, conquering and reconquering, devastating some cities and forgiving others.
His fame spread throughout Europe, where for centuries he was a fictional and horror figure. For some peoples, most directly affected by their conquests, their memory, seven centuries later, remains fresh, either as a destroyer of cities in the Middle East or as the last great leader of nomadic power.
Quick Facts: Timur
- Known for Founder of the Timurid Empire (1370-1405), ruled from Russia to India, and from the Mediterranean to Mongolia.
- Birth: April 8, 1336, in Kesh, Transoxiana (now Uzbekistan)
- Parents: Amir Taraghai and Tekina Khatun
- Died: February 18, 1405, at Otrar, in Kazakhstan
- Spouse (s): (M about 1356, d 1370) Aljai Turkanaga, Saray Mulk (m 1370), Dozens of other women and concubines
- Children: Timur had dozens of children; those who ruled his kingdom after his death include Pir Mohammed Jahangir (ruled 1374-1407, 1405-1407), Shahrukh Mirza (1377-1447, r 1407-1447.) And Ulugh Beg (1393 -1449, r. 1447-1449).
The Early Life of Timur
Timur was born on April 8, 1336, near the town of Kesh (now Shahrisabz), about 50 miles south of the oasis of Samarkand, in Transoxiana. The child’s father Amir Taraghai was the chief of the Barlas tribe; Timur’s mother was Tekina Khatun.
The Barlas were of mixed Mongolian and Turkish origin, descended from the hordes of Genghis Khan and the former inhabitants of Transoxiana. Unlike their nomadic ancestors, the Barlas agriculturalists and traders were wound up.
Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Arabshah of the 14th-century biography “Tamerlan or Timur: The Great Amir” states that Timur descended from Genghis Khan on his mother’s side; it is not entirely clear whether this is true.
Many details of Tamerlan’s early life are written from a flood of manuscripts, dozens of heroic stories from the early 18th to 20th centuries, and stored in archives across Central Asia, Russia, and Europe.
In his book “The Legendary Biographies of Tamerlan” historian Ron Sela argued that they were based on old manuscripts but only serve as “a manifesto against the corruption of rulers and officials, a call to respect Islamic traditions, and an attempt to situate centrally Asia within a larger geopolitical and religious area. ”
The stories are full of adventure and mysterious events and prophecies. According to these stories, Timur picked up in the city of Bukhara where he met and married his first wife Aljai Turkana.
She died around 1370, after which he married some of the daughters of Amir Hussain Qaraunas, a rival leader, including Saray Mulk. Timur eventually gathered dozens of women as wives and concubines as he conquered their fathers or landed former husbands.
Controversial causes of Timur’s lameness
The European versions of Timur’s name – “Tamerlan” or “Tamberlane” – are based on the Turkish nickname Timur-i-Leng, which means “Timur the Lame.” Timur Corpse was founded in 1941 by a Russian team led by exhumed to archaeologist Mikhail Gerasimov, and she found evidence of two healed wounds on Timur’s right leg. His right hand was also missing two fingers.
Anti-Timurid author Arabshah says Timur was shot with an arrow while stealing sheep. More likely, he was wounded in 1363 or 1364 fighting as a mercenary for Sistan (southeast Persia by contemporary chroniclers Ruy Clavijo and Sharaf al-Din Ali Yazdi as stated).
The Great Military leader Timur
At sixteen, Timur joined the service of Kazghan, a Turk who murdered the last son Qazan Khan ibn Yasar. Quickly rising in rank, he became military chief under his orders. However, the assassination of Kazghan in 1357 delayed his dreams of ascension.
Reacting to the death of the emir, the khan of Mogholistan, Tughluk Timur invades the Transoxiana and attempts the reunification of the khanate of Djaghataï. Timur then decides to support him and is appointed adviser to the new governor, Ilyas Khodja, son of the khan, in 1361.
But Ilyas fails to rally the Turkish Muslim populations or the aristocracy, and Timur fearing a revolt, leaves Samarkand to join her brother-in-law Husayn, the grandson of Kazan. Thus he began the struggle for accession to the throne.
Timur’s Conquests Begin
Timur’s courage and tactical skill made him a successful mercenary in Persia, and he soon gathered a large following. In 1364, Timur and Hussein banded together and defeated Ilyas Khoja, the son of Tughluk Timur. By 1366 the two warlords controlled Transoxiana.
Timur’s first wife died in 1370, liberating him to attack his former allies, Hussein. Hussein was besieged and killed at Balkh, and Timur declared himself the ruler of the entire region. Timur was not directly descended from Genghis Khan on his father’s side, so he was ruled out as amir (from the Arabic word for “prince”) instead of as khan. In the next decade, Timur took hold of the rest of Central Asia as well.
The Expansion period of Timur
The next 30 years were spent in several wars and expeditions. Tamerlan not only consolidated his power at home by subduing his enemies, but he also sought to expand his territory by encroaching on the lands of neighboring potentates.
Its conquests in the south and south-west included almost all the provinces of Persia (Iran), including Baghdad, Karbala, and Kurdistan. One of his most formidable opponents was Tokhtamych who, after being a refugee at the court of Tamerlane, became ruler of the eastern Kipchak and the Golden Horde and disputed with Tamerlane the possession of the Khwarizm.
Tamerlane supported Tokhtamysh when he invaded Russia and took Moscow in 1382, but later Tokhtamych turned against him and invaded Azerbaijan in 1385. It was not until 1395at the Battle of the Kur River the power of Tokhtamych was finally defeated.
He fled to Siberia, where he died assassinated in 1406. Tamerlane’s victory ended the hegemony of the Golden Horde in Russia. In 1383 Tamerlan took Herat, in Persia (in current Afghanistan), which after the death of Abu Said (1335), master of the Ilkhanid dynasty, was no longer controlled by any power.
The conquest of India, Syria, and Turkey
Timur’s army of 90,000 crossed the Indus River in September 1398 and relies on India. The country had after the death of Sultan Firuz Shah Tughluq (r. 1351-1388), who fell to pieces Delhi Sultanate and until then Bengal, Kashmir, and Dekhan each had separate rulers.
The Turkish/Mongolian invaders left a bloodbath on their way; the Delhi army was destroyed in December and the city was destroyed. Timur seized tons of treasure and 90 war elephants and took them back to Samarkand.
In 1399 West saw Timur retake Azerbaijan and conquer Syria. Baghdad was destroyed in 1401 and 20,000 people were slaughtered. In July 1402, Timur captured early Ottoman Turkey and received the submission from Egypt.
The failed expedition in China and death
The rulers of Europe were glad that the Ottoman Sultan Bayazid had been defeated, but she trembled at the thought that “Tamerlan” was on her doorstep. The rulers of Spain, France, and other powers sent congratulations to Timur hoping to ward off an attack.
Timur had bigger goals, though. He decided in 1404 that he would conquer Ming China. (The Han Ming dynasty overthrew his cousins, the Yuan, 1368) Bad luck for him, but continued the Timurid army during an unusually cold winter in December.
Men and horses died from the exposure, and 68-year-old Timur fell ill. He died on February 17, 1405, near Otrar, in Kazakhstan.