The Karakoyunlu or the Black Sheep Turkomans (Azeri-Turkish: Qaraqoyunlular/Karakoyunlular) were a Turkoman tribal federation that ruled what is today Azerbaijan, including present-day northwestern Iran and Iraq from 1375 to 1468.

The Black Sheep Turkomans 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 Turkomans 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 Turkomans, 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 Turkomans took Baghdad. The installation of a subsidiary Black Sheep Turkomans 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 Turkomans maintained a strong grip over the areas they controlled.

Jihan Shah made peace with the Timurid Shah Rukh, however, this soon fell apart. When Rokh died in 1447, the Black Sheep Turkomans 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 Turkomans, however, this was a catastrophic failure resulting on Jihan Shah's death and the collapse of the Black Sheep Turkoman's control in the Middle East. By 1468, the White Sheep Turkomans had swept away the last vestiges of the Black Sheep Turkomans.

See also: Rulers of Kara Koyunlu

Sources

• Bosworth, Clifford. The New Islamic Dynasties, 1996.
• Morby, John. The Oxford Dynasties of the World, 2002.