Qara Qoyunlu

The Black Sheep Turkmen (Arabic: Kara Konyunlu, Turkish: Karakoyunlular) were a Turkmen tribal federation that ruled what is today Azerbaijan and Iraq 1375 to 1468.

The Black Sheep Turkmen were vassals of the Jalayirid dynasty in Baghdad and Tabriz from about 1375, when the leader of their leading tribe, ruled over Mosul. However, the Turkmen rebelled against the Jalayirids, and secured their independence from the dynasty with the conquest of Tabriz by Kara Yusuf.

However, in 1400, the armies of Tamerlane defeated the Black Sheep Turkmen, and Kara Yusuf fled to Egypt and sought refuge with the Mamelukes. He gathered an army and by 1406 had taken back Tabriz.

In 1410, the Black Sheep Turkmen took Baghdad. The installation of a subsidiary Black Sheep Turkmen line there hastened the downfall of the Jalayirids whom they had once served. Despite internal fighting amongst Kara Yusuf's descendents after his death in 1420, and the increasing threat of the Timurids, the Black Sheep Turkmen maintained a strong grip over the areas they controlled.

Jihan Shah made peace with the Timurid Shah Rokh, however, this soon fell apart. When Rokh died in 1447, the Black Sheep Turkmen annexed portions of Iraq and the eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, as well as Timurid controlled western Iran.

Though much territory was gained during his rule, Jihan Shah's reign was troubled by his rebellious sons and the almost autonomous rulers of Baghdad, whom he expelled in 1464.

In 1466, Jihan Shah attempted to take Diyar Bakr from the White Sheep Turkmen, however, this was a catastrophic failure resulting on Jihan Shah's death and the collapse of the Black Sheep Turkmen's control in the Middle East. By 1468, the White Sheep Turkmen had swept away the last vestiges of the Black Sheep Turkmen.