The Oirats share some history, geography, culture and language with the
Eastern Mongols, and were at various times united under the same leader as a larger Mongol entity, whether that ruler was of Oirat descent or of
Chingissids. Comprising the
Khoshut (
Mongolian: "хошууд", H
ošuud),
Choros ("цорос", C
oros), Ölöt ("өөлд",
Ööld),
Torghut ("торгууд",
Torguud), and
Dörbet ("дөрвөд",
Dörvöd) ethnic groups, they were dubbed Kalmyk or Kalmak, which means "remnant" or "to remain", by their western
Turkic neighbours. Various sources also list the
Bargut,
Buzava, and
Tumed tribes as comprising a part of the Dörben Öörd; some tribes may have joined the original four only in later years. This name may, however, reflect the Kalmyks' remaining
Buddhist rather than converting to
Islam; or the Kalmyks' remaining in the
Altay region. After the fall of the
Yuan dynasty, Oirat and Eastern Mongols had developed separate identities to the point where Oirats called themselves "Four Oirats" while they used the term "Mongols" for those under the
Khagans in the east.
Early history (damaged) in
Tārīkh-i Jahān-Gushā 'The History of The World Conqueror", dated 1290. Suppl. Pers. 205 – Bibliothèque Nationale de France. One of the earliest mentions of the Oirat people, in a historical text, can be found in the
Secret History of the Mongols, a 13th century chronicle of
Genghis Khan's rise to power. In the
Secret History, the Oirats are counted among the "forest people", and are said to live under the rule of a shaman-chief known as
bäki. They lived in
Tuva and the Mongolian
Khövsgöl Province; the Oirats moved south in the 14th century. In one famous passage, the Oirat chief
Qutuqa Beki used a
yada, or 'thunder stone', to unleash a powerful storm on Genghis' army. The magical ploy backfired, however, when an unexpected wind blew the storm back towards him. During the early stages of Genghis' rise to power, the Oirats fought against Genghis but were defeated. The Oirats would then fully submit to Mongol rule after their ally,
Jumukha, Genghis' childhood friend and later rival, was killed. Subject to the
Khan, the Oirats turned themselves into a loyal and formidable faction of the Mongol war machine. In 1207,
Jochi, the eldest son of Genghis, subjugated the forest tribes, including the Oirats and the
Yenisei Kyrgyz; the
Great Khan gave those peoples to his son, Jochi, and had one of his daughters, Checheygen, marry chief Khudukh-bäki (or his son). There were notable Oirats in the
Mongol Empire, such as
Arghun Agha and his son,
Nawruz. In 1256, a group of the Oirats under Bukha-Temür (Mongolian: Буха-Төмөр, Бөхтөмөр) joined
Hulagu's expedition against the Abbasids and participated in the
Mongol campaign against the Nizaris in Iran. Then, they took part in the
Second Battle of Homs, where the Mongols were defeated. The majority of the Oirats, who were left behind, supported
Ariq Böke against
Kublai in the
Toluid Civil War. Kublai defeated his younger brother, and they entered the service of the victor. In 1295, more than 10,000 Oirats under Targhai Khurgen, son-in-law of the
Borjigin family, fled Syria, then under the
Mamluks, as they were despised by both Muslim Mongols and local
Turks. They were well-received by Egypt's
Sultan,
Al-Adil Kitbugha, himself of Oirat origin. Ali Pasha, the governor of Baghdad and head of an Oirat ruling family, went on to murder Ilkhan
Arpa Keun, resulting in the disintegration of Mongol Persia. Since the Oirats were near both the
Chagatai Khanate and the
Golden Horde, they had strong ties with them, and many Mongol khans had Oirat wives. After the expulsion of the
Yuan dynasty from China, the Oirats reconvened as a loose alliance of the four major western Mongolian tribes (Mongolian:
дөрвөн ойрд,
дөрвөн ойрaд). The alliance grew, taking power in the remote region of the
Altai Mountains, northwest of
Hami oasis. Gradually, they spread eastwards, annexing territories then under the control of the Eastern Mongols. They hoped to reestablish a unified, nomadic rule under their banner of the Four Oirats. The only Borjigid ruling tribe was the Khoshuts; the others' rulers were not descendants of Genghis. The
Ming dynasty of China had helped the Oirats' rise over the Mongols during the Yongle Emperor's reign after 1410, when the Ming defeated the Qubilaid
Öljei Temür and the Borjigid power was weakened. The Borjigid Khans were displaced from power by the Oirats (with Ming help), ruling as puppet-khans until the alliance between the Ming and Oirats ended, and the Yongle Emperor launched a campaign against them. The greatest ruler of the Oirat Confederacy was
Esen Taishi; he led the Oirats from 1438 to 1454, a time in which he unified Mongolia (both Inner and Outer) under his puppet-khan
Taisun Khan. In 1449, Esen Taishi and Taisun Khan mobilised their cavalry along the Chinese border and invaded
Ming China, defeating and destroying the Ming defences at the
Great Wall, along with the reinforcements sent to intercept their cavalry. In the process, the
Zhengtong Emperor was
captured at Tumu. The following year, Esen returned the emperor after an unsuccessful ransom attempt. After claiming the title of Khan (something which only blood descendants of Genghis Khan could do), Esen was killed; shortly afterwards, Oirat power declined. From the 14th until the middle of the 18th century, the Oirats were often at war with the
Eastern Mongols, but reunited with them during the rule of
Dayan Khan and
Tümen Zasagt Khan.
The Khoshut Khanate , one of the main Oirat tribes, and his wife (土爾扈特台吉).
Huang Qing Zhigong Tu, 1769. The Oirats converted to
Tibetan Buddhism around 1615, and it was not long before they participated in the conflict between the
Gelug and
Karma Kagyu schools. At the request of the Gelug school, in 1637,
Güshi Khan, the leader of the
Khoshuts in
Koko Nor, defeated
Choghtu Khong Tayiji, the Khalkha prince who supported the Karma Kagyu school, and conquered
Amdo (present-day
Qinghai). The unification of Tibet followed in the early 1640s, with Güshi Khan proclaimed Khan of Tibet by the
5th Dalai Lama and the establishment of the
Khoshut Khanate. The title "
Dalai Lama" itself was bestowed upon the third lama of the Gelug
tulku lineage by
Altan Khan (not to be confused with the
Altan Khans of the Khalkha), and means, in Mongolian, "Ocean of Wisdom". Amdo, meanwhile, became home to the Khoshuts. In 1717, the
Dzungars invaded Tibet and killed
Lha-bzang Khan (or Khoshut Khan), a grandson of Güshi Khan and the fourth Khan of Tibet, and conquered the
Khoshut Khanate. The Qing Empire defeated the
Dzungars in the 1750s and proclaimed rule over the Oirats through a Manchu-Mongol alliance (a series of systematically arranged marriages between princes and princesses of Manchu with those of Khalkha Mongols and Oirat Mongols, which was set up as a royal policy carried out over 300 years), as well as over Khoshut-controlled Tibet. In 1723, Lobzang Danjin, another descendant of Güshi Khan, took control of Amdo and tried to assume rule over the Khoshut Khanate. He fought against a
Qing army, and was defeated only in the following year with 80,000 people from his tribe executed by Manchu army due to his "rebellion attempt". By that period, the Upper Mongolian population reached 200,000 and were mainly under the rule of Khalkha Mongol princes who were in a marital alliance with Manchu royal and noble families. Thus, Amdo fell under Manchu domination.
The Dzungar Khanate as in 1706 (Map Collection of the Library of Congress: "Carte de Tartarie" of Guillaume de L'Isle (1675–1726)). The 17th century saw the rise of another Oirat empire in the east, known as the Khanate of
Dzungaria, which stretched from the
Great Wall of China to present-day central
Kazakhstan, and from present-day northern
Kyrgyzstan to southern
Siberia. It was the last empire of
nomads, and was ruled by
Choros noblemen. The
Transition from Ming to Qing dynasties in China occurred during the mid-17th century, and the Qing sought to protect its northern border by continuing the divide-and-rule policy their Ming predecessors had successfully instituted against the Mongols. The Manchu consolidated their rule over the Eastern Mongols of
Manchuria. They then persuaded the Eastern Mongols of Inner Mongolia to submit themselves as
vassals. Finally, the Eastern Mongols of Outer Mongolia sought the protection of the Manchu against the Dzungars. The
Kazakh–Dzungar Wars (1643–1756) were a series of long conflicts between the
Kazakh Juzes and Dzungar Khanate. The strategic goal for the Dzungars was to increase their territories by taking lands of the
Kazakhs. Under the leadership of
Abul Khair Khan, the Kazakhs won major victories over the Dzungars at the Bulanty River in 1726 and at the
Battle of Añyraqai in 1729. from 1688 to 1757 In the 17th century, the Dzungar pioneered the local manifestation of the 'Military Revolution' in central Eurasia after perfecting a process of manufacturing indigenously created gunpowder weapons. They also created a mixed agro-pastoral economy, as well as complementary mining and manufacturing industries on their lands. Additionally, the Zunghar managed to enact an empire-wide system of laws and policies to boost the use of the Oirat language in the region. Some scholars estimate that about 80% of the
Dzungar population was
wiped out by warfare of the Manchu Qing conquest of Dzungaria in 1755–1757. The Zunghar population reached 600,000 in 1755. Most of the Choros, Olot, Khoid, Baatud, and
Zakhchin Oirats who battled against the Qing were killed by Manchu soldiers and, after the fall of the
Dzungar Khanate, became small ethnic groups.
Kalmyks (1630–1771),
Dzungar Khanate (1634–1758), and
Khoshut Khanate (1642–1717) Kalmyks live on the Caspian steppe. Their settlement and relationship with the Caspian steppes has a long history. In early modern times,
Kho Orlok, tayishi of the
Torghuts, and Dalai Tayishi of
Dorbets, led the Oirats (200,000–250,000 people, mainly Torghuts) west to the
Volga river in 1607 where they established the Kalmyk Khanate. By some accounts this move was precipitated by internal divisions or by the Khoshut tribe; other historians believe it more likely that the migrating clans were seeking pastureland for their herds, scarce in the central Asian highlands. Some of the Khoshut and Ölöt tribes joined the migration almost a century later. The Kalmyk migration had reached as far as the steppes of southeastern Europe by 1630. At the time, that area was inhabited by the
Nogai Horde. But under pressure from Kalmyk warriors, the
Nogais fled to
Crimea and the
Kuban River. Many other nomadic peoples in the Eurasian steppes subsequently became vassals of the Kalmyk Khanate, part of which is in the area of present-day
Kalmykia. The
Kalmyks became allies of
Russia and a treaty to protect southern Russian borders was signed between the Kalmyk Khanate and Russia. Later, they became nominal, then full subjects of the Russian Tsar. In 1724, the Kalmyks came under the control of Russia. Russia gradually reduced the autonomy of the Kalmyk Khanate. Tsarist policies encouraged the establishment of Russian and German settlements on pastures where the Kalmyks formerly roamed and fed their livestock. The
Russian Orthodox Church, by contrast, pressed
Buddhist Kalmyks to adopt Orthodoxy. In January 1771, the oppression by the tsarist administration forced a larger part of Kalmyks (33,000 households or approximately 170,000 individuals) to migrate to Dzungaria. 200,000 (170,000) Kalmyks began the migration from their pastures on the left bank of the
Volga River to Dzungaria, through the territories of their
Bashkir and
Kazakh enemies. The last Kalmyk khan
Ubashi led the migration to restore the
Dzungar Khanate and Mongolian independence. Ubashi Khan sent his 30,000 cavalry to the
Russo-Turkish War in 1768–1769 to gain weapons before the migration. He led 170,000 Kalmyks on a return migration to Dzungaria, where they were received as
Qing subjects; after failing to stop the Kalmyk migration, the Empress
Catherine the Great abolished the Kalmyk Khanate. Beset by raids by Kazakhs and Bashkirs, thirst, cold and starvation, only 70,000 survivors made it to Dzungaria. The Kazakhs attacked them near
Balkhash Lake. About 100,000–150,000 Kalmyks who settled on the west bank of the
Volga River could not cross the river because the river did not freeze in the winter of 1771 and Catherine the Great executed their influential nobles. The Qing Empire resettled the Kalmyks in five different areas to prevent their revolt and several Kalmyk leaders were soon killed by the Manchus. Following the Russian revolution, their settlement was accelerated, Buddhism stamped out and herds collectivised. Kalmykian nationalists and Pan-Mongolists attempted to migrate from Kalmykia to Mongolia in the 1920s when a serious famine gripped Kalmykia. On January 22, 1922, Mongolia proposed to accept the immigration of the Kalmyks, but the Russian government refused. Some 71–72,000 (around half of the population) Kalmyks died during the famine. The Kalmyks revolted against Russia in 1926, 1930 and 1942–1943. In March 1927, Soviets deported 20,000 Kalmyks to Siberia and
Karelia. Around half (97–98,000) of the Kalmyk people deported to Siberia died before being allowed to return home in 1957. The government of the Soviet Union forbade teaching the
Kalmyk language during the deportation. Mongolian leader
Khorloogiin Choibalsan attempted to arrange migration of the deportees to Mongolia and he met them in Siberia during his visit to Russia. Under the Law of the Russian Federation of April 26, 1991 "On Rehabilitation of Exiled Peoples" repressions against Kalmyks and other peoples were qualified as an act of genocide. According to the
Russian 2010 Census there were 176,800 Kalmyks, of whom only 80,546 could speak the Kalmyk language, a serious decline from the level of the
2002 Census, in which the number of speakers was 153,602 (with a total number of 173,996 people). The
Soviet 1989 Census showed 156,386 Kalmyk-speakers with a total number of 173,821 Kalmyks.
Xinjiang Mongols The Mongols of
Xinjiang form a minority, principally in the northern part of the region, numbering 194,500 in 2010, about 50,000 of which are
Dongxiangs. They are primarily descendants of the surviving
Torghuts and
Khoshuts who returned from
Kalmykia, and of the
Chakhar stationed there as garrison soldiers in the 18th century. The emperor had sent messages asking the Kalmyks to return, and erected a smaller copy of the
Potala in
Jehol (
Chengde), (the country residence of the
Manchu Emperors) to mark their arrival. A model copy of that "Little Potala" was made in China for the Swedish explorer
Sven Hedin, and was erected at the
World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. It is now in storage in Sweden, where there are plans to re-erect it. Some of the returnees did not come that far and still live, now as Muslims, at the southwestern end of
Lake Issyk-kul in present-day
Kyrgyzstan. In addition to exiling Han criminals to Xinjiang to be slaves of the Banner garrisons there, the Qing also practiced reverse exile, exiling Inner Asian (Mongol, Russian and Muslim criminals from Mongolia and Inner Asia) to
China proper where they would serve as slaves in Han Banner garrisons in Guangzhou. Russian, Oirats and Muslims (Oros. Ulet. Hoise jergi weilengge niyalma) such as Yakov and Dmitri were exiled to the Han banner garrison in Guangzhou. In the 1780s after the Muslim rebellion in Gansu started by
Zhang Wenqing (張文慶) was defeated, Muslims like
Ma Jinlu (馬進祿) were exiled to the Han Banner garrison in Guangzhou to become slaves to Han Banner officers. The Qing code regulating Mongols in Mongolia sentenced Mongol criminals to exile and slavery under Han bannermen in Han Banner garrisons in China proper.
Alasha Mongols The region bordering
Gansu and west of the Irgay River is called
Alxa or Alaša, Alshaa and Mongols who moved there are called Alasha Mongols. Törbaih
Güshi Khan's fourth son, Ayush, was opposed to the Khan's brother Baibagas. Ayush's eldest son is Batur Erkh Jonon Khoroli. After the battle between
Galdan Boshigt Khan and Ochirtu Sechen Khan, Batur Erkh Jonon Khoroli moved to
Tsaidam with his 10,000 households. The fifth
Dalai Lama wanted land for them from the
Qing government, thus in 1686, the Emperor permitted them to reside in Alasha. In 1697, Alasha Mongols were administered in 'khoshuu' and 'sum' units. A khoshuu with eight sums was created, Batur Erkh Jonon Khoroli was appointed Beil (prince), and Alasha was thus a 'zasag-khoshuu'. Alasha was however, like an 'aimag' and never administered under a 'chuulgan'. In 1707, when Batur Erkh Jonon Khoroli died, his son Abuu succeeded him. He was in Beijing from his youth, served as bodyguard of the Emperor, and a princess (of the Emperor) was given to him, thus making him a 'Khoshoi Tavnan', i.e. Emperor's groom. In 1793, Abuu became Jün Wang. There are several thousand Muslim Alasha Mongols.
Ejine Mongols Mongols who lived along the
Ejin River (
Ruo Shui) descended from Rabjur, a grandson of Torghut Ayuka Khan from the Volga River. In 1698, Rabjur, with his mother, younger sister and 500 people, went to Tibet to pray. While they were returning via Beijing in 1704, the Qing ruler, the
Kangxi Emperor, let them stay there for some years and later organized a 'khoshuu' for them in a place called Sertei, and made Rabjur the governor. In 1716, the
Kangxi Emperor sent him and his people to
Hami, near the border of Qing China and the Zunghar Khanate, for intelligence-gathering purposes against the Oirats. When Rabjur died, his eldest son, Denzen, succeeded him. He was afraid of the Zunghar and wanted the Qing government to allow them to move away from the border. They were settled in Dalan Uul–Altan. When Denzen died in 1740, his son Lubsan Darjaa succeeded him and became Beil. In 1753, they were settled on the banks of the Ejin River and the Ejin River Torghut 'khoshuu' was thus formed. ==Culture==