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Tamerlane claimed relationship with Chingghis Quan through his second wife, who was a descendant of the House of Chagatai. for much of his reign, he ruled through a legitimate Chagatid Quan, and took the titles Vizier and then Emir.

Although he ruled from a fixed capital [and why was Karakorum not considered a fixed capital?], Tamerlane went to war almost every year of his rule. If he wasn't conquering new lands, or fighting new enemies, he was putting down revolts. I believe he attacked Georgia six different times. His empire was much less orderly than that of the Great Quans of Mongolia.

Finally, Tamerlane's Empire was much more ephemeral. Three of Chingghis Quan's grandsons ruled as Kha Khan after his son Ogedai [Guyuk, Mongke and Qublai]. The major components lasted much longer. Tamerlane's Empire fell apart at his death.

What are his major contributions to history? He delayed the Ottoman Turks' rise to major power when he defeated Bayazid, buying Byzantium another half century. He destroyed the reconstituted Golden Horde by defeating Toktamesh[who he placed on the throne of the White Horde, and assisted in subduing the Golden Horde], shattering it into three separate powers [The Krim Tartars, the Khanate of Kazhan, and a third Khanate]; paving the way for the rise of Muscovy, and subsequently, Russia.He inspired a play by Christopher Marlowe. And he left pyramids of skulls littering the landscapes of western Asia, and Asia Minor. What he didn't do was restore the Silk Road, restore intercontinental trade between Europe and China [which had flourished under the Mongols], establish a functioning government and a period of peace and stability in the region, or create the cross cultural fermentation that Alexander's equally short-lived empire did. He had neither vision, long range goals, nor long range plans. What he did have was an army, and a series of endless looting campaigns that harkened back to the pre - Chingghisid steppe. Tamerlane was a chess playing thug with a talent for tactics. No more. No less.