Until the mid-17th century, when bestowal of the title of Khan was transferred to the Dalai Lama, all Mongol tribes recognized this claim and the political prestige attached to it. The Oirats formed this alliance to defend themselves against the Khalkha Mongols and to pursue the greater objective of reunifying Mongolia. They reestablished their traditional pastoral nomadic lifestyle during the end of the Yuan dynasty. During the 15–17th centuries, they established under the name "10 tumen Mongols", a cavalry unit of 10,000 horsemen, including four Oirat tumen and six tumen composed of other Mongols. The Four Oirat was a political entity formed by the four major Oirat tribes. See also: Oirats, Four Oirat, and Esen Taishi Smaller tribes belonging to the confederation included the Khoits, Zakhchin, Bayids And Khangal. The Four Oirat incorporated neighboring tribes or splinter groups at times, so there was a great deal of fluctuation in the composition of the alliance, with larger tribes dominating or absorbing the smaller ones. Collectively, the Four Oirat sought power as an alternative to the Mongols, who were the patrilineal heirs to Genghis Khan.
The alliance comprised four major Western Mongol tribes: Khoshut, Choros, Torghut and Dörbet. The struggle ended in 1757 with the defeat of the Oirats in Dzungaria they were the last of the Mongol groups to resist vassalage to Qing (Grousset, 1970: 502–541).Īt the start of this 400-year era, the Western Mongols designated themselves as the Four Oirat. For 400 years, the Oirats conducted a military struggle for domination and control over both Inner Mongolia and Outer Mongolia. After the fall of the Mongol Yuan dynasty of China in 1368, the Oirats emerged as a formidable foe against the Khalkha Mongols, the Chinese Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and the Manchus who founded the Qing dynasty in China in 1644.
The Kalmyk are a branch of the Oirat Mongols, whose ancient grazing-lands spanned present-day parts of Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia and China. Kalmyk dancers Early history of the Oirats Through emigration, small Kalmyk communities have been established in the United States, France, Germany, and the Czech Republic. They are the only traditionally Buddhist people whose homeland is located within Europe. Today they form a majority in Kalmykia, located in the Kalmyk Steppe, on the western shore of the Caspian Sea. They created the Kalmyk Khanate from 1635 to 1779 in Russia's North Caucasus territory. The Kalmyks ( Kalmyk: Хальмгуд, Xaľmgud, Mongolian: Халимагууд, Halimaguud Russian: Калмыки, romanized: Kalmyki, archaically anglicised as Calmucks) are a Mongolian ethnic group living mainly in Russia, whose ancestors migrated from Dzungaria. Mongols, especially Oirats, other Mongolic peoples Minority Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Tengrism, Mongolian shamanism, Islam Picture taken in the Salsky Raion of the Don Host Oblast.