or Qara Qoyunlu
(Turkish; " Black Sheep ")
Turkmen tribal federation that ruled Azerbaijan and Iraq (с 1375–1468).
Their second leader, Kara Yūsuf (r. 1390–1400, 1406–20), secured their independence by seizing Tabrīz, the capital of the Jalāyrid dynasty. He was beaten back by the armies of Timur but regained Tabrīz in 1406. He captured Baghdad in 1410. His successor, Jihān Shah, died in battle against a rival Turkmen federation, the Ak Koyunlu, in 1466, and the empire fell in 1468.