Amir Timur (Tamerlane)

Timur was born into the Barlas tribe in Transoxiana near Shahrisabz (Kesh); Uzbekistan officially dates his birth to 1336. In 1370 he took power in the western part of the Chagatai realm.

Over the next thirty years he defeated the Golden Horde, the Delhi Sultanate, the Mamluks of Egypt and, at the Battle of Ankara in 1402, the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I. Regarded as undefeated in battle, he also caused vast destruction through his campaigns.

A patron of scholars and artists, he adorned Samarkand with magnificent buildings and launched the Timurid Renaissance. He died at Otrar in 1405 while campaigning against China and is buried in the Gur-e-Amir.