AMİR TİMUR

The founder of the Timurid dynasty Amir Timur was born in 1336 in the village of Hoca Ilgar, located in the Kesh region (Şahrisabz). A member of the Barlas clan, Timur's father was Amir Turagay and his mother was Tekina Hatun. In 1370, he conquered the western region of the Chagatai Khanate (Transoxiana), a Mongol Khanate, and ascended the throne in Samarkand.  Timur's life was spent in campaigns, as he was a military emporer. By virtue of these campaigns, dubbed the Khorezm expeditions, Dasht-i Kipchak campaigns, Three-Year campaign (1386-1388), Five-Year campaign (1392-1396), India campaign (1398-1399) and Seven-Year campaign (1399-1404), Timur was in possession of a great empire, the borders of which spanned from India to the Bosphorus and from the Eurasian steppes to the Near East. Timur died in Otrar in 1405 during the Chinese Campaign he set out in 1404, and was buried in the Gur-i Amir mausoleum located in Samarkand. Undefeated on the battlefields during his reign, Timur was a great soldier and statesman. He also placed great importance on scholars, scientists and artisans, and organized scholarly discussions with the leading scholars of the period in his palace. In addition, he made great contributions to the cultural and social development of Samarkand in particular and Transoxiana in general, by immigrating the scholars, scientists and craftsmen from the lands he conquered to the capital city of Samarkand, and thus established the second renaissance of the region.