Dzungar people
Encyclopedia
The Dzungar or Zunghar (Mongolian
Mongolian language
The Mongolian language is the official language of Mongolia and the best-known member of the Mongolic language family. The number of speakers across all its dialects may be 5.2 million, including the vast majority of the residents of Mongolia and many of the Mongolian residents of the Inner...

: Зүүнгар, Züüngar, lit. "Left hands"; ) is the collective identity of several Oirat
Oirats
Oirats are the westernmost group of the Mongols who unified several tribes origin whose ancestral home is in the Altai region of western Mongolia. Although the Oirats originated in the eastern parts of Central Asia, the most prominent group today is located in the Republic of Kalmykia, a federal...

 tribes that formed and maintained the Zunghar Khanate
Zunghar Khanate
The Zunghar Khanate was a nomadic power on the Eurasian steppe. It covered the area called Dzungaria and stretched from the west end of the Great Wall of China to present-day eastern Kazakhstan, and from present-day northern Kyrgyzstan to southern Siberia .In 1678 Galdan received from the Dalai...

 in the 17th to 18th century. Historically they were one of major tribes of the Four Oirats
Four Oirats
The Four Oirats or the Alliance of the Four Oirat tribes was the confederation of the Oirat tribes, which marked the rise of the Western Mongols in Mongolian history.Despite the universal currency of the term Four Oirats among Eastern Mongols and Oirats and numerous explanations by...

 confederation.
The Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....

 used the term Ööled (Cyrillic
Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet
The Mongolian Cyrillic script is the writing system used for the Khalkha dialect of the Mongolian language as the standard dialect of the modern state of Mongolia. Cyrillic has not been adopted by the Khalkha in the Inner Mongolia region of China, who still use the Mongolian script.Mongolian...

: Өөлд) as euphemism for the hated word Zunghar.

Origin

The Dzungars were a confederation of several Oirat
Oirats
Oirats are the westernmost group of the Mongols who unified several tribes origin whose ancestral home is in the Altai region of western Mongolia. Although the Oirats originated in the eastern parts of Central Asia, the most prominent group today is located in the Republic of Kalmykia, a federal...

 tribes that emerged in the early 17th century to fight the Altan Khan of the Khalkha
Altan Khan of the Khalkha
The Altan Khans ruled north-western Mongolia from about 1609 to 1691 at the latest. Altan Khan of Khalkha also known as Altan Khan of Khotogoid ruled over the Khotogoids in northwestern Mongolia and belonged to the Left Wing of the Khalkha Mongols...

 (not to be confused with the more well-known Altan Khan of the Tümed
Altan Khan
Altan Khan , whose given name was Anda , was the ruler of the Tümet Mongols and de facto ruler of the Right Wing, or western tribes, of the Mongols...

), the Jasaghtu Khan
Jasaghtu Khan
Tümen Jasagtu Khan was a 16th century Mongol khan of the Northern Yuan Dynasty in Mongolia who reigned from 1558 to 1592. He was the successor of Darayisung Gödeng Khan and had direct rule over the Chahar. It was during his rule that the Mongols conquered Daur and Evenks...

, and later the Manchu for dominion and control over the Mongolian people and territories. This confederation rose to power in what became known as Dzungaria
Dzungaria
Dzungaria, also called Zungaria, is a geographical region in northwest China corresponding to the northern half of Xinjiang. It covers approximately , lying mostly within Xinjiang, and extending into western Mongolia and eastern Kazakhstan...

 between the Altai Mountains and the Ili River
Ili River
thumb|right|300px|Map of the Lake Balkhash drainage basin showing the Ili River and its tributariesThe Ili River is a river in northwestern China and southeastern Kazakhstan .It is long, of which is in Kazakhstan...

 Valley. Initially, the confederation consisted of the Oöled, Dörvöd
Dörbet
Dörbet may refers to:* Dörbet , an Oirat tribe;* Dörbet , a Khorchin-Kharchin tribe;...

 and Khoit tribes. Later on, elements of the Khoshut and Torghut
Torghut
The Torgut are one of the four major subgroups of the Four Oirats. The Torghut ruling dynasty traced its descent to the Kereit ruler Wang Khan's bodyguards....

 tribes were forcibly incorporated into the Dzungar military, thus completing the re-unification of the West Mongolian tribes.

According to oral history, the Oöled and Dörbed tribes are the successor tribes to the Naiman, a Turco-Mongol
Turco-Mongol
Turko-Mongol is a modern designation for various nomads who were subjects of the Mongol Empire. Being progressively Turkicized in terms of language and identity following the Mongol conquests, they derived their ethnic and cultural origins from steppes of Central Asia...

 tribe that roamed the steppes of Central Asia during the era of Genghis Khan. The Oöled shared the clan name Choros
Choros
Choros was the ruling clan of the Zungars and Dorbets and once ruled the whole Four Oirats. They founded the Zunghar Empire in the 17th century. According to a myth, their chiefs reckoned their descent from a boy nourished by a sacred tree, a legend shared with the Uyghur royal family.In the late...

 with the Dörvöd
Dörbet
Dörbet may refers to:* Dörbet , an Oirat tribe;* Dörbet , a Khorchin-Kharchin tribe;...

.

History

On the Öölöds before the Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....

, see Zunghar Empire.


In 1697, two relatives of Galdan Khan, Dajila and Rabdan, surrendered to the Manchu
Manchu
The Manchu people or Man are an ethnic minority of China who originated in Manchuria . During their rise in the 17th century, with the help of the Ming dynasty rebels , they came to power in China and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which...

 Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....

. Their people were organized into two Oolod banners and resettled in modern Bayankhongor Province. In 1731, five hundred households fled back to the Zunghars and the remaining Oolods were deported to Hulun Buir. After 1761 part of them were resettled in Arkhangai Province.

The Hulun Buir Oolods formed an administrative banner along the Imin and Shinekhen Rivers. Under the Chinese Empire, a body of them were resettled to Yakeshi city. In 1764 many Oolods migrated to Khovd Province and supplied corvee services for the Khovd garrison of the Qing. Their number reached 9,100 in 1989.

The Zunghars remaining in Xinjiang
Xinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...

 were also renamed Oolods. They dominated 30 sums of 148 Mongol sums during the Qing. They numbered 25,000 in 1999.

The Qing dynasty gained control over eastern Xinjiang as a result of a long struggle with the Zunghars that began in the seventeenth century. In 1755, the Qing attacked Ghulja, and captured the Zunghar khan. Over the next two years, Qing armies destroyed the remnants of the Zunghar khanate and colonised parts of Xinjiang with Han and Hui Chinese.

It has been estimated that more than half of the Dzunghar population were killed by illness or the military campaigns. One writer, Wei Yuan
Wei Yuan
Wei Yuan , born Wei Yuanda , courtesy names Moshen and Hanshi , was a Chinese scholar from Shaoyang, Hunan. He moved to Yangzhou in 1831, where he remained for the rest of his life. Wei obtained the provincial degree in the Imperial examinations and subsequently worked in the secretariat of...

, described the resulting desolation in what is now northern Xinjiang as: "In an area stretching to several thousand li
Li
Li or li may refer to:* Li , the Confucian concept of ritual** Li , philosophical concept of principle* Li people, an ethnic group of China...

, there was not a yurt
Yurt
A yurt is a portable, bent wood-framed dwelling structure traditionally used by Turkic nomads in the steppes of Central Asia. The structure comprises a crown or compression wheel usually steam bent, supported by roof ribs which are bent down at the end where they meet the lattice wall...

 except those who have surrendered." Some of the surviving Dzunghars fled to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 and Kazakh Khanate
Kazakh Khanate
Kazakh Khanate was a Kazakh state that existed in 1456-1847, located roughly on the territory of present-day Republic of Kazakhstan.-History:...

.

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