history
Timur (1336–1405), known in the West as Tamerlane (from Persian Tīmūr-e Lang, 'Timur the Lame'), founded the Timurid Empire from his capital at Samarkand. His campaigns devastated Central Asia, Persia, and northern India; he died en route to invade Ming China. He claimed Mongol descent through marriage to a Chinggisid princess but was Turco-Mongol, not a direct heir of Genghis Khan.