Mongolian Khaganates
The Oirats, or western Mongols, were a confederation of four peoples, among them the Khoshut, the Choros and the Torghut, who lived west of the Khalkha. In the 17th century two Oirat powers took the khan title with the blessing of the Dalai Lama. The Khoshut under Güshi Khan conquered Tibet in 1642 and ruled it as kings and protectors of the Dalai Lama until the Dzungars killed Lhazang Khan in 1717. In Dzungaria the Choros princes, who had ruled as khong tayiji, built the Dzungar Khanate; Galdan took the khan title, and his successors made it the last great empire of the steppe until the Qing conquered it in 1755–1758. The Torghut of the Volga have their own page, the Kalmyk Khanate. This page lists the Oirat rulers who held the khan title.
5 Rulers
Güshi Khan and his descendants ruled Tibet as kings and military protectors of the Dalai Lama, while the Dalai Lama's government ruled in civil affairs. Güshi's other sons settled Kokonor, in today's Qinghai.
Khoshut prince who conquered Qinghai, Kham and Tsang for the Fifth Dalai Lama and in 1642 became king of Tibet, founding the Khoshut Khanate.
Read the profileEldest son of Güshi Khan, proclaimed king of Tibet in 1658; commanded the Mongol forces that upheld the Dalai Lama's government.
Read the profileSon of Dayan Khan, enthroned as king of Tibet in 1671; his forces fought Ladakh from 1679, after which western Tibet passed to the Dalai Lama's state.
Read the profileSon of Tenzin Dalai Khan whose short reign is disputed: the traditional account says his brother Lhazang poisoned him; recent research says he never really ruled because of illness.
Read the profileLast Khoshut king of Tibet; killed the regent Sangye Gyatso in 1705, deposed the Sixth Dalai Lama in 1706 with Qing approval, and was killed when the Dzungars took Lhasa in 1717.
Read the profile4 Rulers
The Khoshut Ochirtu Setsen Khan and the three Dzungar rulers who took the khan title. The earlier Dzungar rulers Erdeni Batur and Sengge, and the last ones after 1745, ruled as khong tayiji and are not listed; nor is Amursana, whom the Qing named khan of the Khoid in 1755.
Khoshut leader of the Four Oirats and nephew of Güshi Khan, made khan by the Dalai Lama in 1666; defeated by Galdan in 1676.
Read the profileDzungar ruler who left the monastery to avenge his brother, received the title Boshugtu Khan from the Dalai Lama, conquered Eastern Turkestan, invaded Khalkha in 1688 and was defeated by the Kangxi Emperor at Zuunmod in 1696.
Read the profileNephew and rival of Galdan who ruled the Dzungar Khanate for three decades; fought the Kazakhs, the Qing and Russia, and in 1717 sent the army that took Lhasa and killed Lhazang Khan.
Read the profileLast strong Dzungar khan; fought the Qing from 1729 to a border settlement on the Altai in 1739, and built workshops and irrigation with the help of captured craftsmen.
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