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.
Uzbekistan in photos
A short visual companion to this entry — photographs from our Uzbekistan travel archive.
Related entries
- Places
Gur-e-Amir: Tamerlane's mausoleum
Gur-e-Amir (1403–1404) holds the tombs of Timur, his sons and grandsons — including Ulugh Beg. Its fluted turquoise dome inspired the Taj Mahal.
- Places
Shakhrisabz: Timur's white palace ruins
Shakhrisabz is Timur's birthplace and the site of his ambitious Ak-Saray palace, whose 40-metre-tall gate towers still stand as UNESCO-listed ruins.
- History
The death of Timur and the succession crisis
Timur died of pneumonia at Otrar in February 1405, aged 68, while marching 200,000 troops toward Ming China. His death triggered a 40-year succession war among his descendants.
- History
Ulugh Beg: the astronomer-king
Timur's grandson who ruled Samarkand 1411–1449 and built a 40-metre observatory that measured the year accurate to 25 seconds — unmatched until Tycho Brahe 150 years later.
- History
Al-Biruni: the first comparative anthropologist
A Khwarezmian polymath (973–1048) who calculated Earth's radius to within 1% accuracy, wrote the first objective study of Hinduism, and mastered astronomy, mineralogy, and pharmacology.
- History
Al-Khwarizmi: the father of algebra
A 9th-century mathematician from Khiva whose book al-Kitab al-Mukhtasar gave us the word 'algebra' and whose name gave us 'algorithm'.