Timur

Timur, also known as Timour, Timur Lenk, Tamerlane, or "Temur the Lame" was a Turkish ruler, remembered primarily for his barbaric, vicious conquests of Baghdad, India, Damascus, among other places. He had conquered more than anyone else except for Alexander the Great. Timur in Turkic means 'iron'.

He was the founder of the Timurid Empire in Persia and Central Asia, and was the first ruler of the Timurid dynasty. He claimed direct descent from Jenghiz Khan through the house of Chagatai.
 

Timurid Empire at Timur's death in 1405

• Timur was born in 1336 in Transoxiana. Transoxiana is the ancient name used for the part of Central Asia that corresponds approximately with modern-day Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, southern Kyrgyzstan, and southwest Kazakhstan.
• His father, Taraqai, was the chief of the Barlas tribe, who were of mixed Mongolian and Turkic ancestry.
• At around age of eight, an invading Mongol army took him and his mother and brothers as prisoners to Samarkand.
• Early in his childhood, Timur used to rob travelers for goods. It is believed that in his twenties, while stealing sheep, he received arrow wounds that left him lame in the right leg for the rest of his life. (Hence, the name Temur the Lame.)

• Upon examination of his skeleton, scientists noted he was about 5 feet 8 inches.
• Timur was a strong person mentally, and despite the handicap, by 1369 he had possessed himself of all the lands which had formed the heritage of Chagatai.
• Is it believed that even though he did not know how to read or write, he was fluent in multiple languages, primarily, Persian and Turkic.
• He was fond of architecture and art, and it is said that he loved art so much that he used to steal it.
• He was also very fond of playing chess. Tamerlane Chess, a more elaborate form of chess, is named after him.
• He was an opportunist who found a justification of his rule and his conquests in Islamic teachings.

Central Asia and beyond

• By 1366, with his ally, Amir Hussein, he had full control of Transoxiana. He married Hussein's sister, Aljai Turkanaga, who died in 1370. After her death, Timur killed Hussein and assumed the supreme position of the whole region.
• Over the next few years, he expanded his control from Transoxiana to the rest of Central Asia.
• His desire for power led him to invade Russia in 1380, and Persia in 1385. In his conquests, he would massacre the citizens of the destination, and reduce the cities to rubble.
• His army captured Moscow in 1395. Persia resisted his conquests. In response, Timur destroyed entire cities, massacred its people, and used their skulls to build towers and pyramids.

India, Syria, Egypt and Turkey

• He arrived in Delhi, India, in 1998. His army destroyed Delhi, massacred people, and seized tons of valuables and took them back to Samarkand.
• He conquered Syria in 1399, and Baghdad in 1401, with around 20,000 of its people slaughtered. In 1402, Timur captured Turkey and Egypt.

Delhi after Timur Lang conquest in 1398

China, and Timur's death

• In 1404, Timur set his eyes upon China. His army set out in December, during an exceptionally cold winter. His men and horses died of cold, and the Timur fell ill.
• He died in February, 1405 at Otrar, in Kazakhstan, at the age of 68.
   

Mosque in Herat, Afghanistan

References:

Marozzi, "Tamerlane: Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the World" (2006).

Saunders, "History of the Mongol Conquests" (1971).

http://www.silk-road.com/artl/timur.shtml