Shahrukh Mirza

Shāhrukh Mīrzā (Persian: شاهرخ میرزا‎‎ Šāhrokh Mīrzā) (August 20, 1377 – March 13, 1447) was the Timurid ruler of the eastern portion of the empire established by his father, Central Asian warlord Timur (Tamerlane) who founded the Timurid dynasty, governing most of Persia and Transoxiana between 1405 and 1447. Shāhrukh was the fourth and youngest son of Timur and child of one of his concubines.

After Timur's death in 1405, his empire fell apart with various tribes and warlords competing for dominance. The Kara Koyunlu Turkmen destroyed the western empire in 1410 when they captured Baghdad, but in Persia and Transoxiana Shāhrukh was able to secure effective control from about 1409. His empire controlled the main trade routes between East and West, including the legendary Silk Road, and became immensely wealthy as a result.

The devastation of Persia's main cities led to the cultural centre of the empire shifting to Samarqand in modern Uzbekistan and Herat in modern Afghanistan. Shāhrukh chose to have his capital not in Samarqand, but in Herat. This was to become the political centre of the Timurid empire, and residence of his principal successors, though both cities benefited from the wealth and privilege of Shāhrukh's court, which was a great patron of the arts and sciences.

Shāhrukh's wife, Gowwhar Shād, funded the construction of two outstanding mosques and theological colleges in Mashhad and Herāt. The Gowwhar-Shād-Mosque was finished in 1418. The mixed ethnic origins of the ruling dynasty led to a distinctive character in its cultural outlook, which was a combination of Persian civilization and art, with borrowings from China, and literature written in Persian as well as Chagatay and Arabic.

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