Kalmyk people

The Kalmyk people (Kalmyk: Хальмгуд, Khal'mgud, Mongolian: Халимаг, Khalimag) or Kalmyks are the Oirats in Russia, whose ancestors migrated from Dzungaria in 1607. They created the Kalmyk Khanate in 1630–1724 in Russia's North Caucasus territory. Today they form a majority in the autonomous republic of Kalmykia on the western shore of the Caspian Sea.

Through emigration, small Kalmyk communities have been established in the United States, France, Germany, and the Czech Republic.

Origins and history

Early history of the Oirats

The Kalmyk are a branch of the Oirats, Mongols whose ancient grazing-lands spanned present-day parts of Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia and China. 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. For 400 years the Oirats conducted a military struggle for domination and control over both Inner Mongolia and Outer Mongolia. 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).