Oirat Confederation

Alliance of the Four Oirats
ᠳᠥᠷᠪᠡᠨ ᠣᠶᠢᠷᠠᠳ
Дөрвөн Ойрад
Dörwön Oirad
1399–1634
The Oirat Confederation and contemporary Asian polities c. 1600
StatusConfederation
Common languagesMongolic
Religion
GovernmentMonarchy
Taishi 
Legislature
  • Customary rules[1]
  • Mongol-Oirat Code
Historical eraPostclassical to early modern period
• Möngke-Temür places himself at the head of the Oirats
1399
• Oirats overthrow a Genghisid Khagan
1399
• Esen Taishi becomes Northern Yuan Khagan
1453-54
• Movement of the Torghuds to the Volga
1616–17
• Establishments of the Dzungar Khanate and the Khoshut Khanate
1630s
• Disestablished
1634
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Northern Yuan
Dzungar Khanate
Kalmyk Khanate
Khoshut Khanate

The Four Oirats (Mongolian: Дөрвөн Ойрад, romanizedDörwön Oirad, pronounced [ˈtɵrw̜ʊ̈ɴ ˈɞe̯ɾ(ə)t]; Chinese: 四衛拉特), formerly known as the Eleuths and alternatively known as the Alliance of the Four Oirat Tribes or the Oirat Confederation, was the confederation of the Oirat tribes which marked the rise of the Western Mongols in the history of the Mongolian Plateau.

Despite the universal currency of the term "Four Oirat" among Eastern Mongols, Oirats, and numerous explanations by historians, no consensus has been reached on the identity of the original four tribes. While it is believed that the term Four Oirats refers to the Choros, Torghut, Dorbet and Khoid tribes,[2] there is a theory that the Oirats were not consanguineous units, but political-ethnic units composed of many patrilineages.[3] In the early period, the Kergüd tribe also belonged to the confederation.[4]

  1. ^ William Elliott Butler-The Mongolian legal system, p.3
  2. ^ René Grousset Empire of Steppes, p.341
  3. ^ C. P. Atwood Enc, p.310
  4. ^ Ssetsen (Chungtaidschi.), Ssanang (1829). Geschichte der Ost-Mongolen und ihres Fürstenhauses: Aus dem Mongolischen übersetzt, und mit dem Originaltexte (in German). Europe Printing.