# Amir Timur (Tamerlane): founder of the Timurid Empire

> A 14th-century Turco-Mongol conqueror born near Shakhrisabz who built an empire from Anatolia to India, with Samarkand as its capital.

**Amir Timur** (1336–1405), known in the West as Tamerlane (from Persian *Timur-e Lang*, "Timur the Lame"), was born in the village of Khoja Ilghar near Shakhrisabz in modern Uzbekistan.

Key facts:
- Rose from minor Barlas clan nobility to conquer territories from the Mediterranean to the Ganges between 1370 and 1405.
- Capital: Samarkand — which he rebuilt as the world's grandest city using craftsmen deported from every conquered land.
- Never took the title "khan" (reserved for Chinggisid blood); instead ruled as "emir" with a puppet Chinggisid khan beside him.
- Died in February 1405 at Otrar (modern Kazakhstan) while marching toward Ming China.
- Buried at Gur-e-Amir, Samarkand.

Architectural legacy:
- Registan Square (commissioned the Ulugh Beg Madrasa through his grandson)
- Bibi-Khanym Mosque
- Ak-Saray Palace, Shakhrisabz
- Gur-e-Amir Mausoleum
- Shah-i-Zinda necropolis expansion

Timur is Uzbekistan's national hero — his equestrian statue replaced Karl Marx in central Tashkent in 1994.

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Keywords: Timur, Tamerlane, Timurid, Samarkand, conqueror, empire
Updated: 2026-08-15
Category: history
URL: https://uzbguidedtours.com/kb/kb-history-timur-tamerlane