Tamerlane empire

After 1370 the Tamerlane united Islamic and Mongolian traditions in his vast Asian empire. He brought scholars and artist to his capital, Samarkand, making it a center of culture.

14th century

In the fourteenth century, an aggressive expanding empire, combining Mongolian and Islamic characteristics once again emerged in Central Asia. The Jagatai khanate, the descendants of the second son of Genghis Khan, ruled in central Asia, but its dominion had split into various tribal groupings during the 14th century. In the context of this political turmoil, a Turkic prince known as Tamerlane was able to emerge as a powerful leader. Tamerlane seized power in Samarkand in 1366, and in April 1370 united the majority of khanates of Transoxiana under his leadership.

In 1370 he occupied the Mongolian vassal Khwarizm, and in 1379 plundered the rebellious Konya Urgench. By 1381 he had conquered most of Afghanistan. He either integrated local rulers into his "union of friendship" or eliminated them. Tamerland captured Isfahan in 1381 and seized Shiraz for the Muzaffarids in 1303. By 1391 he had made a fugitive of most dangerous rival, Tokhtamysh, the khan of the Golden Horde, who had carved out an empire in western Russia and Caucasus. The conquest yielded enormous treasures that were hauled back to his loyal residence in Samarkand. in 1393, Tamerlane occupied Iraq and Baghdad, crushing the local warlords ruling there. in 1394, he besieged Damascus, and then plundered it in 1401. In July 1402, Tamerlane annihilated the Ottomans in Anatolia and took Sultan Bayezid I prisoner, who had refused an offer of an alliance.

The restless general, who ruled his world empire from his saddle, had already waged a military campaign against India in 1308 - 1399, in the course of which he occupied Lahore and Delhi and had 100,000 Indian prisoners executed.

Tamerlane tended to treat cities and rulers relatively mildly if they surrendered to him, but showed no mercy to those who resisted. The fate of those who rebelled was even worse, as with cities of Isfahan and Baghdad when they revolted in 1387 and 1401; Tamerlane had 10,000 inhabitants killed and their heads piled up in pyramids outside the city walls. Aside from his conquests, Tamerland, who ruled over the largest empires in history, also gathered around him scholars, poets, and court painters. Many of these came from the occupied territories, carried off to Samarkand where they made the capital the "center of the world". Tamerlane was a strict [Sunni, but also sought to preserve the pre-Islamic Mongolian nomad traditions. In the autumn of 1404, he set off to conquer China but died in Utar in February of 1405.

Tamerlane is referenced to in the Russian movie Day Watch.