Kingdoms of Central Asia - Khans of Dzungaria (Mongols)

Khans of Dzungaria / Zungharia (Mongols)
AD 1600 - 1757
Incorporating the Dzungars and Ztinghars

The Mongols appear to have been born out of an amalgam of native Turkic and Tungusic groups in north-eastern Central Asia and East Asia. They briefly became powerful in what is today's Mongolia around 1130, but in 1160 they were destroyed, only to be rebuilt half a century later by 'Chingiz Khan', who became the first of the 'Great Khans'.

He created a vast steppe-based empire which integrated itself into several neighbouring states. His death in 1227 created the basis for the later sub-division of the empire, something which increasing internal feuding would ensure. Later, the powerful Kublai Khan retained China as his main base, implying (or perhaps establishing) it as the most important Mongol possession under his Yuan dynasty. His death in 1294 ended any pretence of unity.

Now the various hordes were fully independent, although they themselves still nominally acknowledged the premier position of the Yuan Mongols until full fragmentation occurred after 1368. The subsequent Northern Yuan failed to hold together as a cohesive force.

The name Dzungaria is also translated as Jungaria, Zungaria, and Zungharia because the Mongol 'dz' becomes a 'z' in Kalmyk. This Central Asian khanate was established by the Dzungars, a sub-clan of the Oirat Mongols. These people are sometimes confusingly known as the Kalmyk or Kalmuks, although the latter group actually lived around the Volga.

The Dzungars first appeared in the seventeenth century as the Northern Yuan were breaking apart. The term 'Dzungar' means the 'left (or eastern) hand'. It was a way of distinguishing these people from the Dorbods so that, technically, the Dzungars were the Dorbods of the east.

Dzungar rulers rarely held the title 'khan'. Instead, they were usually known as khung-taiji, from the Chinese title, huang-taizi, meaning 'crown prince'. When it came to Mongol usage this title was usually applied to a viceroy or regent for a khan. The title of khan was usually only used when granted by the dalai lama.

The Northern Yuan Oirats had ruled what is now Mongolia between 1434-1552, but even before that they were being forced westwards. The murder in 1454 of Esen Tayi Khan, the Oirat khan and great khan of the Northern Yuan, fragmented Mongol unity once again. The 'Four Confederates' of Choros, Dörbets, Khoshut, and Torguts each established independence. They continued to be known as the 'Four Confederates' as well as the 'people of the wing' or 'left hand'. This name associates them all, at least originally, with Dzungaria.

The death in 1634 of Legdan Hutuhtu Khan, the Northern Yuan khan, signalled the end of a khanship which had descended directly from Chingiz Khan and a virtual surrendering of Inner Mongolia to the Qin. However, by this stage, Khara Khula of the Choros clan had managed to unify the Oirats so that his son, Erdeni Batur Hongtaiji, was able to establish the Dzungar khanate in the same year. The Choros, as the Oirat royal clan, furnished the rulers of Dzungaria.

As an independent Mongol khanate, Dzungaria flourished between 1634-1757. During that period the Dzungars built a large and powerful state and, by 1636, Dzungaria had established a protectorate over Tibet. Like all Mongols, the Dzungars were devout Buddhist lamaists. It was they who, in 1641, created the position of dalai lama to govern Tibet.

At its height, their khanate extended over a large area of Central Asia between land to the south of Lake Baikal and the Himalayas to central China and what are now Kazakhstan and Pakistan. This is when the Ztinghars make an appearance as a cadet branch of the ruling family. To its north was the Russian empire, to the east were the Qin, to the south was Bhutan and the Nepali kingdoms, and to the west were Mughulistan, Kokand, Bukhara, and the Kazakh khanate.

Dzungaria expanded to take in Kashgaria. Ten years later, the Khalkha territory and the Turpan khanate were added to Dzungar holdings, expanding the khanate to its greatest territorial extent. Now the state was perceived by the Chinese as a threat. Competition with the Qin dynasty saw Dzungaria steadily decline until it was finally annexed by China in 1757.

That ended the last great independent Mongol state until the twentieth century. It also brought about the almost total annihilation of the Choros and Khoids. The Chinese introduced a wide variety of new settlers to replace the Dzungars in Dzungaria, including Kyrgyz-Kazakhs, Muslims from Kashgaria and Kansu, Chahars and the Khalkhas, and many others. Whatever Dzungars remained were officially renamed Öölöd by the Chinese.

Far East Kingdoms

Central Asia

Images and text copyright © all contributors mentioned on this page. An original king list page for the History Files.