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During this campaign, he devastated Baghdad and the Christian kingdoms of Armenia and Georgia. Next the conqueror campaigned against the Ottoman Turks who were based in Asia Minor (modern Turkey). He defeated the Ottoman Turks at the great Battle of Ankara (1402) and even captured the Sultan Bajzet. At this time, he ruled directly or indirectly a huge area of Western Asia. The Timurid Empire included the modern countries of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran, through Central Asia encompassing part of Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan.<ref> Martin, Richard. Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World (New York, Macmillan Reference USA, 2004), p. 134 </ref>
By now well into his sixties he still wanted to conquer new territories. He turned his attention to the newly established Ming dynasty in China. Timur assembled a huge army and entered a formal alliance with the Mongols. Timur returned to Samarkand (1404) but he fell during the invasion of China, and died in February 1405. He was buried in a sumptuous tomb in his beloved Samarkand. Before his death and in accordance with Central Asian customs he divided his lands among his sons .<ref> Martin, p. 213</ref>. This led to a series of civil wars after his death and his sons were not able to hold onto much of his vast domain. After years of internecine struggles, many of Timur’s lands were reunited by his youngest son, the capable. The Timurid Dynasty ruled much of Central Asia and eastern Iran for several generations. It eventually disintegrated into several petty kingdoms. Some of the descendants of Timur conquered India in the 16th and 17th century and established the Mughal Dynasty.
====Timur and Culture====
