Timur

About Timur – Timur-e Lang

Tīmūr bin Taraghay Barlas ( Chagatai Turkic: تیمور Tēmōr, “iron”) ( 1336 – February 1405) was a 14th-century warlord of Turco-Mongol descent, conqueror of much of Western and central Asia, and founder of the Timurid Empire ( 1370–1405) in Central Asia and of the Timurid dynasty, which survived in some form until 1857.

He is also known as Timur-e Lang ( Persian: تیمور لنگ) which translates to Timur the Lame, as he was lame after sustaining an injury to the leg as a child.

Timur was born in Transoxiana, near Kesh (an area now better known as Shahr-e Sabz), ‘the green city,’ situated some 50 miles south of Samarkand in modern Uzbekistan.

Timur placed much of his early legitimacy on his genealogical roots to the great Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan.

What is known is that he was descended from the Mongol invaders who initially pushed westwards after the establishment of the Mongol empire.

It is notable that Timur never claimed for himself the title of khan, styling himself amir and acting in the name of the Chagatai ruler of Transoxania. Timur was a military genius but lacking in a political sense.

He tended not to leave a government apparatus behind in lands he conquered, and was often faced with the need to conquer such lands again after inevitable rebellions.

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