Timurid Empire · 1370-1449

Timur and the blue domes of Samarkand

Timur conquered from Delhi to Ankara and filled his capital Samarkand with domes and gardens built by craftsmen from many lands. His grandson Ulugh Beg made it a city of science. Students weigh a conqueror who built one city by ruining others.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
12–15
On the map
3 steps, AD 1400 to AD 1398
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

Timur conquered from Delhi to Ankara and filled his capital Samarkand with domes and gardens built by craftsmen from many lands. His grandson Ulugh Beg made it a city of science. Students weigh a conqueror who built one city by ruining others.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Describe the extent of Timur's empire around 1400.
  • Explain how Timur used the wealth and craftsmen of conquered lands to build Samarkand.
  • Describe Ulugh Beg's observatory and why it mattered for science.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1400

A conqueror's empire

Open the map in 1400 and find the Timurid Empire. Follow its border: which seas, deserts and mountain ranges mark its edges?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1400

Samarkand

Zoom in on Samarkand and turn on Cities and Trade Routes. Why was this a good place for an emperor's capital?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1398

The march to India

Turn on Historical Events and find the marker for 1398 in northern India. Timur's army marched about 1,500 km from Samarkand. Which mountains stood in the way?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Timur was not descended from Genghis Khan, so he never took the title of khan. Why did that family line still matter so much?
  2. Timur forced craftsmen from conquered cities to move to Samarkand. Who gained and who lost from that?
  3. His wars ruined cities from Delhi to Damascus. How should Samarkand remember a ruler who built it by ruining others?
  4. Ulugh Beg was a ruler who loved astronomy. Why might that have made him a weak ruler but a great scientist?
  5. Why do empires built by one conqueror often fall apart after his death?
4

Game round

10 min

Rule History has no Timurid ruler, so play Genghis Khan, the conqueror Timur wanted to equal. Let students take turns making rulings. Then compare: what did Timur copy from the Mongols, and what did he do differently, for example in building Samarkand?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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