Timurid Empire

Timurid Empire ایران و توران Iran-o-Turan
1370–1507
Motto: Persian:راستى رستى Rāstī rustī "In rectitude lies salvation"
The Timurid Empire in 1405
Status	Emirate
Capital	Samarkand (1370–1405; 1447–1459) Herat (1405–1447; 1459–1507)
Common languages	Persian (official, court language, high literature, lingua franca, administration) Chagatai Turkic (dynastic, literature) Arabic (theology, coinage)
Religion	Sunni Islam (official) Shia Islam Zoroastrianism Hinduism Christianity
Government	Absolute monarchy
Emir
• 1370–1405	Timur (first)
• 1506–1507	Badi' al-Zaman (last)
Historical era	Late Middle Ages
• Timur begins conquests	1363
• Establishment of Timurid Empire	1370
• Westward expansion begins	1380
• Battle of Ankara	20 July 1402
• Fall of Samarkand	1501
• Fall of Herat	1507
• Battle of Panipat	21 April 1526
Area
1405 est.	4,400,000 km2 (1,700,000 sq mi)
Population
• 1405 est.	49,000,000
Currency	Tanka
Preceded by Succeeded by Chagatai Khanate Ilkhanate Khanate of Bukhara Safavid Iran Qara Qoyunlu Aq Qoyunlu Mughal Empire

The Timurid Empire was a late medieval Turco-Mongol, culturally Persianate, Muslim empire that dominated Greater Iran in the early 15th century, comprising modern-day Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, much of Central Asia, the South Caucasus, and parts of contemporary Pakistan, North India, and Turkey. The empire had a syncretic culture and combined Turkic, Mongolic, and Persian influences, with the last members of the dynasty being regarded as "ideal Perso-Islamic rulers".

The empire was founded by Timur, also known as Tamerlane, a warlord belonging to the Turco-Mongol Barlas tribe, which was of Mongol origin but had become Turkicized in Central Asia. Timur established the empire in 1370 and ruled it until his death in 1405. He saw himself as the great restorer of the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan, regarded himself as his heir, and associated closely with the Borjigin. Timur continued to have strong trade relations with Ming China and the Golden Horde, with Chinese diplomats like Ma Huan and Chen Cheng traveling west to his capital, Samarkand. The empire led to the Timurid Renaissance, particularly during the reign of Shahrukh Mirza (1405–1447) and his astronomer and mathematician son Ulugh Begh (1447–1449).

The ruling Timurid dynasty lost most of Persia to the Aq Qoyunlu confederation with the defeat and death of Abu Sa'id Mirza (1451–1469). However, members of the Timurid dynasty continued to rule smaller states, sometimes known as Timurid emirates, in Central Asia and Khorasan, with the reign of Husayn Bayqara (1469–1506) being regarded as the last flowering of the Timurid Renaissance in Herat. By 1507, Uzbeks under Shaybani Khan had conquered almost all of the surviving Timurid principalities, including Samarkand and Herat. In the 16th century, Babur, the Timurid prince of Ferghana (modern Uzbekistan), invaded Kabulistan (modern Afghanistan) and established a small kingdom there. After a final attempt to retake Samarkand in 1511–12, Babur turned to India and used this kingdom as a staging ground to invade the Delhi Sultanate in 1526 and established the Mughal Empire.