What was tamerlane

Today, we call this game Tamerlane Chess. He relied on Islamic symbols and language to bring legitimicy to his conquests, and often referred to himself as The Sword of Islam. He supported educational and religious Islamic institutions, and encouraged the Borjigin leaders to convert to Islam. Some scholars have labeled hims a Shiite Shia muslim based on his veneration of the house of the Prophet and the genealogy on his tombstone where he claims to be a descendant of Ali. His official religious counselor was not a Shiite but the Hanafite scholar Abd alJabbar Khwarazmi, and Timur described himself as a disciple of Sayyid Baraka — the holy man of Tirmidh.

Timur is also famous for ordering the construction of a marvelous building at the tomb of Ahmad Yaassawi, a missionary credited for converting many nomads of the steppe to Folk Islam. Timur inherited a system of rulership that he used for both nomadic and settled populations.

Compared to Gengis Khan, the control and use of settled populations was much more important to Timur. Early in his career, Timur began using the epithet Sahib Qiran and symbolized it with three circlets that formed a triangle. For Timur, this expressed his aim to not just balance chiefs, nomads and settled populations, but also integrate them into a dynamic institutional system. The army was famous not just for being extremely fierce and violent, but also for its heterogenity.

Among the tribes most loyal to Timur were the Barlas and the Jalayir. Timur had a great interest in trade and wanted to reactive and restore the Silk Road.

His ambition was to keep the Silk Road under his control, even though that ment having to go to war with various nations and empires located along this enormously long route from West to East. Emperor Hung-we, the first Ming ruler, had been sending out embassies to various former Yuan tributaries asking them to recognize Ming as their overlords. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile.

Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Share Flipboard Email. Table of Contents Expand. Early Life. Disputed Causes of Timur's Lameness. Transoxiana's Political Situation. Young Timur Gains and Loses Power. Timur's Conquests Begin. Timur's Empire Expands. Conquest of India, Syria, and Turkey. Final Campaign and Death. Timur's Descendants. Timur's Reputation. Kallie Szczepanski.

History Expert. Kallie Szczepanski is a history teacher specializing in Asian history and culture. She has taught at the high school and university levels in the U. Featured Video. Cite this Article Format. Szczepanski, Kallie. Biography of Tamerlane, 14th Century Conqueror of Asia. Biography of Babur, Founder of the Mughal Empire. Mongolia Facts, Religion, Language, and History. Karakorum: Genghis Khan's Capital City. Tibet and China: History of a Complex Relationship.

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Both he and the Europeans saw themselves as reluctant allies against the Ottomans. Right up until his death, Timur continued to expand his empire. The leader of the new Chinese Ming Dynasty had insulted Timur, provoking his wrath.

However, after 3 months of successful battles, the campaign ended when Timur succumbed to fever and died. Despite preferring spring assaults, Timur had prematurely attacked the Chinese during the harsh winter of This suggests that his anger at the Chinese contributed to his demise.

Timur Tamerlane died on the 17th of February at the age of His body was embalmed and buried in an ebony coffin in Samarkand, fifty miles north of his birthplace in Kesh. Timur had 4 sons. Timur was succeeded by his youngest son, Shah Rukh. The Black Sheep Turkmen destroyed the western half of his empire when they sacked Baghdad in , though Shah Rukh continued the Timurid dynasty by retaining control of the eastern half.

He set up his capital in Herat, Afghanistan. The Timurid Empire lasted until The Persian Safavid dynasty took most of Iran in , while a contingent of Uzbek tribes invaded from the north to take Herat in He is regarded as a hero in central Asian states such as Uzbekistan. In much of Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, and India, he is vilified as a monster for massacring the populations. Nevertheless, some Muslim scholars applaud him for uniting the Muslim world. Despite forcing Christians out of much of the Muslim world, he was highly regarded in Europe for defeating the Ottomans, though that impression has become less favorable in recent times.

Why speak of the second greatest Asian ruler when you can speak of the first? Perhaps, his cruelty discouraged the civilizations who could have popularized his story; or maybe his lameness caused fewer writers to glorify his achievements.

While others have succeeded in immortalizing themselves with barbarism, we may never know why Tamerlane escaped a similar degree of notoriety.

You must be logged in to post a comment. Thomas Swan more. Contact Author. Who Was Tamerlane? A statue of Tamerlane in Uzbekistan. The breadth of the Timurid Empire.