In 1680 Galdan Boshogtu Khan annexed East Turkestan to Dzungaria.
At the beginning of the XVII century in the territory between Sayano-Altai and Tien Shan, the Dzungar Khanate emerged, which existed from 1635 to 1758. Its main population was made up of Western Mongols and Buryats, who called themselves «oirat» (from Mong. oir — close).
At the time of Genghis Khan, the Oirats made up the tumen of the left wing (zun gar, dzun gar) of the Mongol army, and therefore they were also called «djungars» in Mongolian. The tradition of dividing the administration into parts («zun gar, barun gar») dates back to the times of hunting. The word «gar» (arm, flank) is used by Mongolian peoples in a number of military terms: zun gar (left eastern wing), barun gar (right eastern wing).
At the beginning of the XVII century Oirats were a union of 4 tribes: Choros, Darbets, Khoshuts and Torguts.
In 1635 the Torguts, as a result of inter-tribal disagreements, migrated to the Volga, where they created the Kalmyk Khanate. The Choros tribe became the main tribe in Dzungaria, and the rulers of the Oirats were chosen from it.
During the period of their power (XVII — beginning of XVIII centuries), significant parts of Kazakhs, Kyrgyz of the Tien Shan and Yenisei, Altai and Tuvinians were under the rule of the Oirats.
In Russian documents, many peoples and states received names that were far from consonant with their self-names.
Thus, Kyrgyzstan in Russian documents of the XVII century was also called «Burut land», because the Tien Shan Kyrgyz were called «Buruts» by the Dzungars (from Mongolian Buruu — against or not ours).
On the other hand, Dzungaria was known in Russian sources as «Kalmyk land», and the Dzungars themselves, whose self-name was «Oirat», were called no other than «black Kalmaks». Southern Altaians were called «white Kalmaks». This is how the Oirats were called by Kazakhs and Tien Shan Kyrgyz by the ethnonym «Kalmak».
The founder of the Dzungarian Khanate was Erdeni-Batar-Khuntayshi (1635-1653), the eldest son of Prince Khara-Khul, from the Choros tribe.
In 1640 Erdeni-Batar at his headquarters on the Emil-gol River in Tarbagatai held an all-Mongol khural (congress), which adopted the «Steppe Statute of Mongolian-Oirat laws» (Ikh Tsaaz-bichig). The statute was based on Genghis Khan’s «Yasa», the code of Khalkha princes in 1620, and other laws of customary law of Mongols (Khalkhs, «Mongols proper») and Oirats, reinterpreted and supplemented according to the historical situation.
«This statute is a mirror, on the surface of which with all clarity depicts the manners, customs, way of thinking, ways of life and degree of enlightenment of the Mongol people», — noted the famous Russian orientalist N.Ya. Bichurin (1777 — 1853).
Mongol-Oirat laws were in force not only in Dzungaria and Mongolia, but also in the Tien Shan, Altai, Eastern Kazakhstan and Kyrgyz Khongorai, strengthening the position of the Oirat ruler.
Khoshud Tsengel — Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor of the Institute of History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in the locality of Tamga-Tash, Jety-Oguz district. Kyrgyzstan. June 12, 2019 (He believes that this Buddhist text was left behind by the Oirats between 1600-1648).
After the death of Batar-huntayshi, his son Senge (1654-1670) began to rule. In 1670 Senge-taisha was killed by his half-brothers Tsetsen and Sodba-Batar.
The throne went to his brother Galdan-Boshogtu Khan (1671-1697), who had previously been a lama in Tibet. He began to pursue an ambitious policy of uniting all Mongol lands.
In 1680 Galdan Boshogtu-khan annexed East Turkestan to Dzungaria. In 1690 he started a war with the Manchurian empire of Qing, but in 1697 he suffered a complete defeat and committed suicide.
Tsewen-Rabdan (1697-1727), son of Senge and nephew of Galdan Boshogtu Khan, reigned on the Oirat throne.
In 1683 the Dzungarian army under the command of Tseven-Rabdan reached Sairam, Tashkent and Syr Darya, defeating the Kazakh army. After that, the Oirats subjugated the southern Kirghiz and devastated the Fergana Valley.
In 1697 Tseven-Rabdan moved his urga (ruler’s headquarters) to the Ili River valley. The old stake on the Emil-gol River was transferred to his cousin Tseren-Dondobu, the senior governor of North-Eastern Dzungaria.
Everyone has heard of the «Kapchagai Buddhas», rock carvings in the Tamgaly-Tas tract in Kazakhstan on the Ili River. However, many believe that these petroglyphs are the only Buddhist monument on the territory of Almaty region.
After Tseven-Rabdan his eldest son Galdan-Tseren (1727-1745) began to rule. It was the period of prosperity of the Dzungarian Khanate. In 1716 the Oirats made a campaign to Tibet and occupied the sacred Lhasa, but in 1720 the Qing troops forced them out of there. In 1725 the Oirats returned and captured Tashkent, Turkestan, and virtually all of Kazakhstan.
After Galdan-Tseren’s death in 1745, a power struggle broke out. In a short time four khans succeeded each other on the throne: Tseven-Dorzhi (1746-1749), Lama-Dorzhi (1749-1753), Davatsi (1753-1756) and Amur-Sana (1756-1757).
All nine rulers who were on the throne of Dzungaria came from the Choros dynasty. Only the last one, Amur-Sana (lit. «well-meaning»), belonged to the Choros on the female line. The word choros (shuran) translates as hustling, quick both physically and in deeds.
In 1756 the Qing Empire introduced a half-million army into Dzungaria, which for two years (1757-1759) with the support of Kazakhs completely destroyed the Oirat state. Out of the 600-thousand population of the Dzungarian Khanate, 30-40 thousand Oirats survived.
Their remnants, who came to the borders of the Russian state, were resettled to the Volga, where they are now known as «Kalmyks», the other part went to the Baikal region.
In 1760 the Chinese viceroyalty «Xinjiang» (lit. «New Frontier») was established on the territory of Dzungaria and East Turkestan.
«It was the Oirats who took over the function previously partly carried by the Huns, Turks and Uyghurs, becoming a barrier against Chinese aggression to the north, and carried out this role until 1758, when the Manchurian-Chinese armies of the Qin Dynasty exterminated this courageous ethnos,» wrote Lev Gumilev.
In 1771, the Kalmyks of the Kalmyk Khanate under the leadership of Ubashi-Noyon made a return to the territory of Dzungaria, hoping to revive their national state. This historical event is known as the Torgut Escape or «Dusty Campaign».
Two hours drive from Almaty is the tract of «Tamgaly-tas», which means «stone with signs» in Kazakh.
Population of Dzungaria
The population of Dzungaria was divided into clan (natural) nobility, which bore the title «Taishi». The patrimonial nobility bore the title «zaisan». Commoners were called «kharachu» and slaves were called «barlag-yas».
Simple cattle breeders had «alban» duties in favor of the state and zaisans. The khan of the Choros tribe, who bore the title «Khun-taisha» (kontayshi), was at the head of the khanate.
Administratively, the Dzungarian Khanate was divided into otoks, angs and tsisai. Otoks were administrative and economic units, which constituted the personal inheritance of the Choro khan.
The Oirats roamed by «khotons», i.e. groups of families related by kinship. Several khotons were united into aimaks, and aimaks into otoks. In case of war, an otok was obliged to field up to a thousand warriors.
«Angi» denoted the estates of the khan’s closest relatives and clan nobility. «Jisai» represented small estates given to the Buddhist clergy for their maintenance.
All these administrative units were divided into clans, each of which was governed by a hereditary zaisan. In total there were more than 200 thousand families or about 1 million people in otok, angi and tsisai. Khuntayshi had 60 thousand troops. During the war the Oirats could field at least 100 thousand horsemen. [Essays. 2008. P. 243.]
Kyrgyz princes with their warriors regularly traveled to the headquarters of the khuntayshi for service. In 1685 the Altyr bey Dain-Irka together with his batyrs lived a whole year at Galdan Boshogtu-khan. [Essays. 2008. P. 245.]
The Oirats took women from dependent lands to replenish their families. [Materials. 2000. p. 223.]
The ruins of the fortress-monastery Ablaikit are located 55 km south of the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk. The monument was founded in 1654 by Oirats. It was destroyed to the ground, archeological and restoration works were not carried out.
In 1703 the Oirats committed the capture of the Kyrgyz to Dzungaria. Based on the results of research of the Khakass ethnographer, Professor Victor Butanaev, the fact of mass hijacking of the population of Khongorai, which did not remain unnoticed in the history of Central Asia, was found out. The reason was the military threat to Dzungaria from China, which saw Khongorai as a potential ally.
The Kyrgyz nobility, forced to migrate to Dzungaria, lost their rights to exploit their subjects. The dissatisfaction of the Kyrgyz with the hijacking from their ancestral nomads is evidenced by the fact of their mass escapes from Dzungaria (up to one and a half thousand) in 1704-1707.
According to Russian documents, «the whole male and female sex of a thousand and three thousand dyms», that is, with a ratio of five per each household (dym) — about 15 thousand Kyrgyz were hijacked.
The hijacking of steppe Kyrgyz took a grandiose scale. It is not by chance that this event was reflected in folklore and is considered as a national tragedy of the people.