Medieval India: a Textbook for Classes XI-XII Part-II

Abstract

Important changes took place in Central and West Asia during the fifteenth century. After the disintegration of the Mongol empire in the "fourteenth century, Timur united Iran and Turan under one rule once again. Timur’s empire extended from the lower Volga to the river Indus, and included Asia Minor (modem Turkey), Iran, Trans-Oxiana, Afghanistan and a part of the Punjab. Timur died in 1404, but his grandson, Shahrukh Mirza (d. 1448), was able to keep intact a large part of his empire. He gave patronage to arts and letters, and in his time, Samarqand and Herat became the cultural centres of West Asia. The ruler of Samarqand had great prestige in the entire Islamic world.