Torghut

The Torghut were a western Mongol people among the Four Oirats. In 1337 they occupied pastures in the Altay of Dzungaria.

Around 1630 Kho Orluk led most Torghuts west to the Volga, displacing the Nogai and founding the Kalmyk Khanate. In 1771 Ubashi Khan led a return east under Russian pressure; raids, hunger and cold reduced the migrants to some 85,000 by the time they reached Dzungaria. The Qing settled the survivors, while those stranded west of the Volga remained as Kalmyks and Catherine abolished their khanate.