The Era of Chaos

Two of the most important dynasties that came after Teymur were the Turkish Dynasties of Ghara Ghouyounlu (‘the owners of black ships’)(1380-1469) and Aagh Ghouyounlu (‘the owners of white sheep’)(1403-1508). These two dynasties ruled mostly in the western parts of the country, the eastern sections were still under the Teymurid rulers.

Ghara Yousof was the founder of Ghara Ghouyounlus, he and his father were subjects of Jalayerian(see above). He was once imprisoned by Teymour when he conquered Azerbaijan, but escaped after his death and regained power. He conquered Azerbaijan and then Kurdestan(1407) and Baghadad(1412). After him, his kingdom was devided to two sections, the Azerbaijan section and Baghdad section, which were ruled by Ghara Yousof's sons.

Ghara Osman was the founder of Aagh Ghouyounlus. Like his Ghara Ghouyounlu cousin, he started conquering western Iran. At first he established his kingdom in Diyar Bekr in present day Turkey, but after Teymour's death, he started attacking the east and finnaly got most of Azarbaijan. Most famouse of Aagh Ghouyounlu rulers was Ozoun Hassan(Hassan the Tall, 1452-1478), he fought three wars against Ottoman Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror and captured a lot of lands in eastern Turkey. He was finnaly defated by the Ottomans and died in 1478.

Both of these dynasties became very weak after the death of their founders and both of them left the mallest possible impact on Iranian history and society.

These two dynasties were the last of Iranian principalities. After the death of Alvand(1504) the last ruler of Aagh Ghouyounlus, Iran became a united country, and never again experienced division. This unification came with a man who is called Cyrus of the Islamic Iran, Shah Ismail Safavi.