Aq Qoyunlu

Aq Qoyunlu
آق قویونلو
Aq Qoyunlu آق قویونلو
1378–1508
	A sanjak (flag) belonging to Uzun Hasan Tamga of Bayandur; used by the Aq Qoyunlu
	Original territory of the Aq Qoyunlu in 1435 , and maximum extent at end of the 15th century , next to the Timurids .
Status	Confederate sultanate
Capital	Bayburt (summer pastures); Kiğı, Palu, and Ergani (winter pastures); Âmid (1403 April–1468); Tabriz (1468–January 6, 1478);
Common languages	Persian (official court language, poetry); Azerbaijani (dynastic, army, poetry);
Religion	Sunni Islam
Government	Monarchy
Ruler
• 1378–1435	Qara Yuluk Uthman Beg
• 1497–1508	Sultan Murad
Legislature	Kengač (legislative); Boy ḵānları (military);
Historical era	Medieval
• First raid on the Trapezuntine Empire by Tur Ali Beg	1340
• Siege of Trebizond	1348
• Established	1378
• Coup by Uzun Hasan	Autumn 1452
• Reunification	1457
• Death of Ahmad Beg, division of the Aq Qoyunlu	December, 1497
• Collapse of the Aq Qoyunlu rule in Iran	Summer 1503
• End of the Aq Qoyunlu rule in Mesopotamia	1508
Currency	Akçe; Ashrafi; Dinar; Tanka Hasanbegî (equal to 2 akçe)
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Qara Qoyunlu
Safavid Empire
Ottoman Empire

The Aq Qoyunlu or the White Sheep Turkomans (Azerbaijani: Ağqoyunlular, آغ‌قویونلولار; Persian: آق‌ قویونلو) was a Turkoman Sunni tribal confederation, which increasingly became culturally Persianate as it expanded into Iran. Founded in the Diyarbakir region by Qara Yuluk Uthman Beg, they ruled parts of present-day eastern Turkey from 1378 to 1508, and in their last decades also ruled Armenia, Azerbaijan, much of Iran, Iraq, and Oman where the ruler of Hormuz recognised Aq Qoyunlu suzerainty. The Aq Qoyunlu empire reached its zenith under Uzun Hasan.