After Amir Temur’s death (1405) his descendants — the Timurids — ruled Transoxiana and Khurasan throughout the 15th century. Politically the era was marked by struggles for the throne, yet culture, science and art flourished as never before: Ulugbek’s observatory, Navoi’s poetry, Behzad’s miniatures and the architecture of Herat and Samarkand became masterpieces of world culture. For this reason the period is sometimes called the “Timurid Renaissance”. Exams ask you to match rulers, capitals and cultural achievements, and about dates and chains of cause and effect.
§1. The struggle for the throne and Shahrukh
Temur named his grandson Pir Muhammad as heir, but another grandson, Khalil Sultan, seized Samarkand (1405–1409). He spent the treasury quickly and lost the emirs’ support.
Shahrukh (1409–1447), Temur’s youngest son, moved the capital to Herat and reunited most of the state
Shahrukh pursued a peaceful policy: instead of new campaigns he consolidated the state and restored trade and agriculture; embassies were exchanged with China (the Ming dynasty).
Shahrukh entrusted Transoxiana to his son Ulugbek.
His wife Gawharshad Begum built mosques and madrasas in Herat and Mashhad — an example of women’s patronage.
Cause and effect: Temur’s vast empire rested on military force → after his death central power weakened and the princes began fighting → Shahrukh consolidated a smaller state by peaceful means.
§2. Mirzo Ulugbek — ruler and scholar
1409–1449 — governor of Transoxiana (supreme ruler from 1447)
The observatory (1428–1429, Samarkand) was the largest of its time; its main instrument was a huge sextant (meridian arc).
The “Zij-i Jadid-i Gurgani” gives the positions of 1,018 stars; the length of the year was calculated with great precision. Ulugbek’s tables were later published in Europe too.
Madrasas: Bukhara (1417), Samarkand (1420, on the Registan) and Ghijduvan (1433). The inscription on the door of the Bukhara madrasa reads: “The pursuit of knowledge is the duty of every Muslim man and woman.”
Students and colleagues: Qadi-zada al-Rumi, Ghiyath al-Din Jamshid al-Kashi (who calculated π with high precision) and Ali Qushji (who completed the zij and later moved to Istanbul).
A currency reform (1428) regularised the copper coinage.
After Shahrukh’s death a struggle for the throne began; in 1449 Ulugbek was killed in a conspiracy led by his son Abd al-Latif. The observatory was later destroyed; its remains were found in 1908 by V. L. Vyatkin.
§3. Political fragmentation and Husayn Bayqara
Abu Sa’id (1451–1469) partly reunited the state; after his death it effectively split into two centres — Samarkand and Herat.
Husayn Bayqara (1469–1506) — ruled in Herat; an age of cultural flowering
Herat was the home of Alisher Navoi, Abd al-Rahman Jami, the miniaturist Kamal al-Din Behzad and the historians Mirkhond and Khondamir.
As vizier and emir Navoi directed public works — madrasas, khanaqahs, hospitals, bridges and caravanserais — and used his own wealth to support scholars and artists.
Other Timurid princes ruled in Samarkand and Fergana; their wars weakened the state.
At the end of the 15th and start of the 16th century, internal feuds and the invasion of the Dasht-i Kipchak Uzbeks (Shaybani Khan) brought down the Timurid state: Samarkand fell in 1500 and Herat in 1507.
§4. Society and economy
The suyurghal system expanded — large estates were granted to princes and emirs, strengthening big landowners and weakening central power.
Taxes: kharaj (land tax), zakat and tamgha (trade duties); some rulers (Ulugbek) tried to abolish the tamgha.
Crafts: paper, embroidery, pottery, metalwork and the art of the book (calligraphy, miniature painting and bookbinding).
Trade: Silk Road links with China, India, Iran and Russia.
The growing influence of the Naqshbandi order: Khoja Ahrar Vali held great political and economic power in Samarkand.
§5. Culture: the “Timurid Renaissance”
Literature: Navoi — the “Khamsa”, “Khazayin al-Ma’ani” and “Muhakamat al-Lughatayn” (1499), the summit of the Turkic (Old Uzbek) literary language; Jami — Persian literature.
History-writing: Sharaf al-Din Ali Yazdi (“Zafarnama”), Hafiz-i Abru, Abd al-Razzaq Samarqandi, Mirkhond (“Rawdat as-Safa”) and Khondamir.
Miniature painting: the Herat school; Behzad, the “Raphael of the East”.
Architecture: Ulugbek’s madrasa in Samarkand, the Musalla complex in Herat and the Gawharshad mosque (Mashhad).
Music and calligraphy: Sultan Ali Mashhadi was a celebrated calligrapher.
15th century — the Timurid era: Ulugbek (science), Navoi (literature), Behzad (art)
§6. The significance of the era
The Timurid era was one of the high points of Central Asian culture; its achievements influenced the Shaybanids, the Baburids (India) and the Safavids (Iran).
The Turkic (Old Uzbek) literary language took its classical form in Navoi’s work.
Politically, however, the division of the inheritance and the princes’ wars weakened the state — the paradox of “cultural flowering and political weakness” is an important theme for historians.
§7. The continuing Timurid legacy
The Baburids: the Timurid prince Babur founded an empire in India in 1526 and carried on Timurid traditions there; under the Baburids, monuments such as the Taj Mahal were built in India under the influence of Timurid architecture.
The Shaybanids continued Timurid culture in Samarkand and Bukhara: building madrasas, writing history and the art of the book.
Scientific legacy: Ulugbek’s tables became known to European astronomers; through Ali Qushji the achievements of the Samarkand school reached the Ottoman Empire.
Since independence: the 600th anniversary of Mirzo Ulugbek was widely celebrated in 1994 and the 550th anniversary of Navoi in 1991.
Conclusion: although the state fell, the Timurid cultural legacy lived on in several countries.
Worked example
“Match: 1) Shahrukh; 2) Ulugbek; 3) Husayn Bayqara; 4) Abd al-Latif. a) Herat, the age of Navoi and Behzad; b) moving the capital to Herat; c) the Samarkand observatory; d) the conspiracy of 1449.”
Shahrukh moved the capital to Herat: 1–b.
Ulugbek — the Samarkand observatory: 2–c.
Husayn Bayqara — the cultural flowering in Herat: 3–a.
Abd al-Latif — the conspiracy against his father Ulugbek: 4–d.
Answer: 1–b, 2–c, 3–a, 4–d.
Worked example
Source analysis: “The pursuit of knowledge is the duty of every Muslim man and woman” — where is this inscription, and what does it show?
The inscription, echoing a hadith, is on the door of Ulugbek’s madrasa in Bukhara (1417).
The source is epigraphic (an inscription on a building) and primary.
It shows the great importance Ulugbek attached to learning, including the education of women.
Answer: Ulugbek’s Bukhara madrasa; a policy of patronising learning and enlightenment.
Worked example
Cause and effect: “Why did the Timurid state fall in the early 16th century despite its cultural flowering?”
The suyurghal system strengthened big landowners and weakened central power.
Constant wars among the princes split the state into Samarkand, Herat and other centres.
Uzbek tribes led by Shaybani Khan attacked from the north.
Answer: internal fragmentation + external pressure → Samarkand (1500) and Herat (1507) passed to the Shaybanids.
Check yourself
What was the capital under Shahrukh?
In which years was Ulugbek’s observatory built?
How many stars are in the “Zij-i Jadid-i Gurgani”?
In what year was Ulugbek’s Bukhara madrasa built?
Who was the famous miniaturist at Husayn Bayqara’s court?
In what year was Ulugbek killed?
Who found the remains of Ulugbek’s observatory?
In what year did the Shaybanids take Herat?
Common mistakes
Naming Samarkand as Shahrukh’s capital (it was Herat).
Placing Ulugbek’s observatory in Herat (it is in Samarkand).
Treating Ali Qushji and Qadi-zada al-Rumi as scholars of Navoi’s time (they worked under Ulugbek).
Seeing the Timurid era only as political decline: it was also an age of cultural flowering.
Saying Navoi worked at Ulugbek’s court (Navoi served Husayn Bayqara in Herat).