Tamerlán (del persa: Timür-i lang, ‘Timur el Cojo’, Tamorlán, Timur Lang, del turco Timur Lenk, Timur o Temür; se le da por nacido en Kesh, Transoxiana, 9 de abril de 1336 [25 Ša'bān, 736] - Otrar, de camino a China, a la que tenía intención de conquistar, 17 de febrero de 1405 [17 Ša'bān, 807]) fue un conquistador, líder militar y político turco-mongol, el último de los grandes conquistadores nómadas del Asia Central. En poco más de dos décadas, este noble musulmán de origen turco y mongol conquistó ocho millones de kilómetros cuadrados de Eurasia. Entre 1382 y 1405 sus grandes ejércitos cruzaron el continente euroasiático desde Delhi hasta Moscú, desde la cordillera Tian Shan del Asia Central hasta los montes Tauro de Anatolia, conquistando y reconquistando, arrasando algunas ciudades y perdonando a otras. Su fama se extendió por Europa, donde durante siglos fue una figura novelesca y de terror. Para algunos pueblos, afectados más directamente por sus conquistas, su memoria, siete siglos después, permanece aún fresca, bien como destructor de ciudades del Oriente Medio, bien como el último gran líder del poder nómada. Véase también: Dinastía Timúrida

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Timur (Persian: تیمور‎‎ Timūr, Chagatai: Temür, Uzbek: Temur; 9 April 1336— 18 February 1405), historically known as Tamerlane (Persian: تيمور لنگ‎‎ Timūr(-e) Lang, "Timur the Lame"), was a Turco-Mongol conqueror and the founder of the Timurid Empire in Persia and Central Asia. He was also the first ruler in the Timurid dynasty. Born into the Barlas confederation in Transoxiana on 9 April 1336. Timur gained control of the western Chagatai Khanate by 1370. From that base, he led military campaigns across Western, South and Central Asia, Caucasus and southern Russia, and emerged as the most powerful ruler in the Muslim world after defeating the Mamluks of Egypt and Syria, the emerging Ottoman Empire and the declining Delhi Sultanate. From these conquests he founded the Timurid Empire, but this empire fragmented shortly after his death. Timur is considered the last of the great nomadic conquerors of the Eurasian Steppe, and his empire set the stage for the rise of the more structured and lasting Gunpowder Empires in the 1500s and 1600s. Timur envisioned the restoration of the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan. "In his formal correspondence Temur continued throughout his life to portray himself as the restorer of Chinggisid rights. He justified his Iranian, Mamluk and Ottoman campaigns as a re-imposition of legitimate Mongol control over lands taken by usurpers To legitimize his conquests, Timur relied on Islamic symbols and language, referred to himself as the "Sword of Islam" and patronized educational and religious institutions. He converted nearly all the Borjigin leaders to Islam during his lifetime. "Temur, a non-Chinggisid, tried to build a double legitimacy based on his role as both guardian and restorer of the Mongol Empire." Timur also decisively defeated the Christian Knights Hospitaller at Smyrna, styling himself a ghazi. By the end of his reign, Timur had gained complete control over all the remnants of the Chagatai Khanate, Ilkhanate, and Golden Horde and even attempted to restore the Yuan dynasty. Timur's armies were inclusively multi-ethnic and were feared throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe, sizable parts of which were laid waste by his campaigns. Scholars estimate that his military campaigns caused the deaths of 17 million people, amounting to about 5% of the world population. He was the grandfather of the renowned Timurid sultan, astronomer and mathematician Ulugh Beg, who ruled Central Asia from 1411 to 1449, and the great-great-great-grandfather of Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire, which ruled parts of South Asia for over three centuries, from 1526 until 1857. Timur is also recognized as a great patron of art and architecture, as he interacted with Muslim intellectuals such as Ibn Khaldun and Hafiz-i Abru.

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