2021-01-30 Sat

There are very few conquerors that have inspired such terror as Amir Timur or Timour. He is remembered as a vicious warrior, who razed ancient cities to the ground and put the entire population to end. He is famous for his Conquest from India to Russia reaching till the Mediterranean Sea.

Legend says that Timour belongs to the Barlas tribe near the city of Kesh on the south of Samarkand in Transoxiana. This tribe is from mixed Mongolian and Turkic ancestry descended from hordes of Genghis Khan. The European version of Timur name was 'Tamerlane ' based on Turkish nickname ' Timur-i-Leng'. Till 1380 the whole central Asia was under him. Hence, his thirst for conquest took him to conquer Russia.

The Timurid army captured Moscow in 1395, Herat (now in Afghanistan) in 1383, and Persia in 1385. By 1396, He had conquered Iraq, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Mesopotamia and Georgia. He crossed Indus River in 1398 and due to Death of Sultan Firuz Shah Tughluq India was fallen into Pieces. Due to this, the army of Delhi was destroyed and the city was ruined.

Timur conquered Syria and Baghdad in 1399 and 1401. In 1402, Timour captured Ottoman Turkey and received the submission from Egypt. Timur turned his attention to Ming China (the ethnic-Han Ming Dynasty) in 1404. Unfortunately, his men and horse die to exposure of freezing cold winter with them, the 68-year-old Timur also fell ill and died in 1404 at Otrar in Kazakhstan.

Uzbekistan issued a coin of the Silk Route on the set of six stamps in 2001. It depicts the Silver Miri of Amir Temur Koragoniy.

Image Courtesy: http://www.philatelia.net/