Timur

Born into the Turkicized Mongol Barlas confederation in Transoxiana in the 1320s, Timur seized control of the western Chagatai Khanate by 1370 and from there launched conquests that toppled the Khans of the Golden Horde, the Mamluk Sultanate, the rising Ottomans, and the Delhi Sultanate, making him the most powerful ruler in the Muslim world. He called himself the "Sword of Islam" and sought to revive the Mongol Empire, speaking Chagatai, Mongolian, and Persian as he moved. His armies were multi-ethnic and much feared; scholars estimate his military campaigns caused the deaths of millions, with Khwarazm suffering repeated devastation across five campaigns. A patron of scholars like ibn Khaldun and poets like Hafez, his reign sparked the Timurid Renaissance. He died on 17 or 18 February 1405, leaving an empire that fragmented quickly but set the template for the Muslim gunpowder empires to come - his descendants included the astronomer Ulugh Beg and Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire.