Timurid dynasty

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تیموریان

Timurid Dynasty
Empire in Central Asia
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Flag of the Timurid dynasty^[a]

Timurid Dynasty at its greatest extent
Capital Samarkand, Herat
Language(s) Persian
Religion Islam
Government Monarchy
Emir
 - 1370–1405 Timur
 - 1506–1507 Muzaffar Hussayn
Historical era Medieval
 - Founded by Timur 1370
 - Samarkand conquered by Uzbeks under Muhammad Shaybani 1509
 - Herat conquered by Shaybani 1507
 - Disestablished 1526
Area
 - 1405 est. 4,600,000 km² (1,776,070 sq mi)
a: Flag of the Timurid Empire according to the Catalan Atlas c. 1375

The Timurids (Persian: تیموریان), self-designated Gurkānī [1][2][3](Persian: گوركانى), were a Persianate[4][5] Central Asian Sunni Muslim dynasty of originally Turko-Mongol[5][6][7][8] descent whose empire included the whole of Central Asia, Iran, modern Afghanistan, as well as large parts of Pakistan, India, Mesopotamia and the Caucasus. It was founded by the legendary conqueror Timur (Tamerlane) in the 14th century.

In the 16th century, Timurid prince Babur, the ruler of Ferghana, invaded India and founded the Mughal Empire, which ruled most of the Indian subcontinent until its decline after Aurangzeb in the early 18th century, and was formally dissolved by the British Raj after the Indian rebellion of 1857.

Origins

The origin of the Timurid dynasty goes back to the Mongolian nomadic confederation known as Barlas, who were remnants of the original Mongol army of Genghis Khan.[5][9][10] After the Mongol conquest of Central Asia, the Barlas settled in Turkistan (which then became also known as Moghulistan - "Land of Mongols") and intermingled to a considerable degree with the local Turkic and Turkic-speaking population, so that at the time of Timur's reign the Barlas had become thoroughly Turkicized in terms of language and habits. Additionally, by adopting Islam, the Central Asian Turks and Mongols also adopted the Persian literary and high culture[11] which had dominated Central Asia since the early days of Islamic influence. Persian literature was instrumental in the assimilation of the Timurid elite to the Perso-Islamic courtly culture.[12] .

Founding the dynasty

History of Greater Iran
| until the rise of modern nation-states |
See also
Kings of Persia
Pre-modern

Timur conquered large parts of Transoxiana (in modern day Central Asia) and Khorasan (parts of modern day Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan) from 1363 onwards with various alliances (Samarkand in 1366, and Balkh in 1369), and was recognized as ruler over them in 1370. Acting officially in the name of the Mongolian Chagatai ulus, he subjugated Transoxania and Khwarazm in the years that followed and began a campaign westwards in 1380. By 1389 he had removed the Kartids from Herat and advanced into mainland Persia from 1382 (capture of Isfahan in 1387, removal of the Muzaffarids from Shiraz in 1393, and expulsion of the Jalayirids from Baghdad). In 1394/95 he triumphed over the Golden Horde and enforced his sovereignty in the Caucasus, in 1398 subjugated Multan and Dipalpur in modern day Pakistan and in modern day India left Delhi in such ruin that it is said for two months "not a bird moved wing in the city".[13] In 1400/01 conquered Aleppo, Damascus and eastern Anatolia, in 1401 destroyed Baghdad and in 1402 triumphed over the Ottomans at Ankara. In addition, he transformed Samarqand into the Center of the World. An estimated 17 million people may have died from his conquests.[14]

After the end of the Timurid Empire in 1506, the Mughal Empire was later established in Afghanistan and India by Babur in 1526, who was a descendant of Timur through his father and possibly a descendant of Genghis Khan through his mother. The dynasty he established is commonly known as the Mughal Dynasty. By the 17th century, the Mughal Empire ruled most of India, but later declined during the 18th century. The Timurid Dynasty came to an end in 1857 after the Mughal Empire was dissolved by the British Empire and Bahadur Shah II was exiled to Burma.

Due to the fact that the Persian cities were desolated by previous wars, the seat of Persian culture was now in Samarkand and Herat. These cities became the center of the Timurid renaissance.[7]

Culture

Although the Timurids hailed from the Barlas tribe which was of Turkicized Mongol origin,[15] they had embraced Persian culture,[16] converted to Islam and resided in Turkestan and Khorasan. Thus, the Timurid era had a dual character,[7] which reflected both the Turco-Mongol origins and the Persian literary, artistic, and courtly high culture of the dynasty.[11][11][17]

Language

During the Timurid era, Central Asian society was bifurcated and had divided the responsibilities of government and rule into military and civilian along ethnic lines. At least in the early stages, the military was almost exclusively Turko-Mongolian, and the civilian and administrative element was almost exclusively Persian. The spoken language shared by all the Turko-Mongolians throughout the area was Chaghatay Turkic. The political organization hearkened back to the steppe-nomadic system of patronage introduced by Genghis Khan.[18] The major language of the period, however, was Persian, the native language of the Tājīk (Persian) component of society and the language of learning acquired by all literate and/or urban people. Already Timur was steeped in Persian culture[19] and in most of the territories which he incorporated, Persian was the primary language of administration and literary culture. Thus the language of the settled "diwan" was Persian, and its scribes had to be thoroughly adept in Persian culture, whatever their ethnic origin.[20] Persian became the official state language of the Timurid Empire[11][17] and served as the language of administration, history, belles lettres, and poetry.[21] The Chaghatay language was the native and "home language" of the Timurid family[22] while Arabic served as the language par excellence of science, philosophy, theology and the religious sciences.[23]