Choros or Tsoros ( mn, Цорос, ; ) was the ruling clan of the Ööld and

Dörbet Oirat The Dörbet ( xal-RU, Дөрвд, ''Dörwyd''; mn, Дөрвөд, ''Dörvöd'', lit. ''"the Fours"''; ; also known in English as the ''Derbet'') is the second largest subgroup of Mongol people in modern Mongolia and was formerly one of the major tr ...

and once ruled the whole

Four Oirat The Four Oirat ( Mongolian: Дөрвөн Ойрад, ''Dorben Oirad''; ); also Oirads and formerly Eleuths, alternatively known as the Alliance of the Four Oirat Tribes or the Oirat Confederation, was the confederation of the Oirat tribes which ...

. They founded the

Dzungar Khanate The Dzungar Khanate, also written as the Zunghar Khanate, was an Inner Asian khanate of Oirat Mongol origin. At its greatest extent, it covered an area from southern Siberia in the north to present-day Kyrgyzstan in the south, and from t ...

in the 17th century. Their chiefs reckoned their descent from a boy nourished by a sacred tree.

History

In the late 14th century, the

Oirats Oirats ( mn, Ойрад, ''Oirad'', or , Oird; xal-RU, Өөрд; zh, 瓦剌; in the past, also Eleuths) are the westernmost group of the Mongols whose ancestral home is in the Altai region of Siberia, Xinjiang and western Mongolia. Histor ...

emerged as the dominant power opposing the

Khalkha Mongols The Khalkha ( Mongolian: mn, Халх, Halh, , zh, 喀爾喀) have been the largest subgroup of Mongol people in modern Mongolia since the 15th century. The Khalkha, together with Chahars, Ordos and Tumed, were directly ruled by Borjigin khan ...

. The ruling clan of the

was Choros at the time. Under their leadership, the Western Mongols established

. In 1455 other Oirat tribes overthrew the Choros Khan,

Esen Taishi Esen ( mn, Эсэн; Mongol script: ; ), (?–1454) was a powerful Oirat taishi and the ''de facto'' ruler of the Northern Yuan dynasty between 12 September 1453 and 1454. He is best known for capturing the Emperor Yingzong of Ming in 1450 in t ...

, who had enthroned himself

Khagan Khagan or Qaghan (Mongolian:; or ''Khagan''; otk, 𐰴𐰍𐰣 ), or , tr, Kağan or ; ug, قاغان, Qaghan, Mongolian Script: ; or ; fa, خاقان ''Khāqān'', alternatively spelled Kağan, Kagan, Khaghan, Kaghan, Khakan, Khakhan ...

of the

Mongols The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal membe ...

. About 1620 the Choros scattered after bitter fighting with the Altan Khan of the Khalkha. The Khalkha and southwestern

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...

n princes repeatedly raided them from 1552 to 1628, forcing them to migrate further west. Some of the Choros fled with a group of the

northward into

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

and present-day

Barnaul Barnaul ( rus, Барнау́л, p=bərnɐˈul) is the largest city and administrative centre of Altai Krai, Russia, located at the confluence of the Barnaulka and Ob Rivers in the West Siberian Plain. As of the 2021 Census, its population was ...

. But they crushed the Khalkha Altan Khan; and made an alliance with the northern Khalkhas in 1640. By 1690 three Oirat states had emerged: the

Khoshut The Khoshut ( Mongolian: Хошууд,, qoşūd, ; literally "bannermen," from Middle Mongolian ''qosighu'' "flag, banner") are one of the four major tribes of the Oirat people. Originally, Khoshuuds were one of the Khorchin tribes in southeast ...

, the Kalmyk and the

. The majority of the Choros with the Dörbet and the Khoids settled in the region of the Black Irtysh, the

Ulungur River The Ulungur River / Urungu River or Urungu ( mn, Өрөнгө гол, translit=Öröngö Gol, zh, c=乌伦古河, p=Wūlúngǔ hé), in its upper reaches in Mongolia known as the Bulgan River ( mn, Булган гол), is a river of China and ...

, the

Emil River The Emil ( kz, Еміл, ''Emıl''; russian: Эмель ''Emel'') or Emin (), also spelled Emel, Imil, etc., is a river in China and Kazakhstan. It flows through Tacheng (Tarbagatay) Prefecture of China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region and the ...

, and the Ili River, forming the Dzungar Khanate.Fred Walter Bergholz-The partition of the steppe, p.353 The Dzunghar Khanate was ruled by the Dörbet and the Choros, displacing the Khoshut in from their homeland

Dzungaria Dzungaria (; from the Mongolian language, Mongolian words , meaning 'left hand') is a geographical subregion in Northwest China that corresponds to the northern half of Xinjiang. It is thus also known as Beijiang, which means "Northern Xinjiang" ...

. Although they reached their peak in the late 17th century, they began to disintegrate after

Galdan Boshugtu Khan Erdeniin Galdan (1644–1697, mn, Галдан Бошигт хаан, , ), known as Galdan Boshugtu Khan (in Mongolian script: ) was a Choros Dzungar- Oirat Khan of the Dzungar Khanate. As fourth son of Erdeni Batur, founder of the Dzungar ...

's wars with the Qing. The Choros were defeated in 1697 and 1771 and they were annexed by the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

References

* Хойт С.К
Этническая история ойратских групп. Элиста, 2015. 199 с.
* Хойт С.К
Данные фольклора для изучения путей этногенеза ойратских групп
// Международная научная конференция «Сетевое востоковедение: образование, наука, культура», 7-10 декабря 2017 г.: материалы. Элиста: Изд-во Калм. ун-та, 2017. с. 286-289. {{Mongol_Yastan Mongol dynasties Dzungar Khanate Oirats