Tamerlane's Tax System How He Funded an Empire

How did Tamerlane pay for his massive armies, lavish building projects, and decades of constant war? This episode examines the surprisingly sophisticated financial machinery behind the Timurid Empire. Lucas and Luna explore the tax reforms Tamerlane implemented after conquering Persia and Central Asia, including the tamgha (trade tax), the land tax (kharaj), and the poll tax (jizya). They discuss how he balanced the books between settled agricultural regions and nomadic steppe traditions, why he remitted taxes after disasters, and how his taxation policies influenced later Mughal and Safavid empires. The conversation touches on the role of the sadr (religious endowment overseer), the mustawfi (chief accountant), and the diwan (administrative council). Specific episodes covered include the 1393 tax remission following a plague in Samarkand, the 1404 tax on Chinese merchants at the Silk Road caravanserais, and the controversial jizya exemptions for Sayyids. Lucas cites the Zafarnama and the memoirs of Ruy González de Clavijo to show how Tamerlane's tax system was both pragmatic and ruthless. A must for listeners interested in the economic history of medieval empires. #TimuridEmpire #Tamerlane #MedievalTaxation #Tamgha #Kharaj #Jizya #EconomicHistory #Samarkand #SilkRoad #Zafarnama #CentralAsia #MughalFinance #SafavidEconomics #HistoryOfTaxation #FexingoHistory #HistoryPodcast #WorldHistory #MedievalEconomy Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo