ABSTRACT
The origins of the Qara-Qoyunlu confederation are hidden in what seems likely to remain impenetrable obscurity. Its ruling family is given the name Baharlu or Barani in the sources, but there seems no certainty over whether this family, or clan, predates the Mongol invasion or was part of the human wave swept westward by Chingiz Khan and Hulegu. Be that as it may, the Qara-Qoyunlu are first seen as an identifiable grouping of importance in the period of the collapse of the Ilkhanate after the death in 736/1335 of Abu Said. They made their way initially as clients of the Jalayirids, who had become the leading power in Iraq and Azarbayjan: their particular patron was the Jalayirid ruler Shaykh Uways. Their own territorial centre was in the vicinity of Lake Van in eastern Anatolia, part of what is now Turkey. Shaykh Safi al-Din, after whom the order was named, was probably of Kurdish ancestry.
