Khara-khula

Khara-Khula (other spelling including Qara Qula Ba'atur Qungtayiji , Mongolian Хархул ,ᠬᠠᠷ᠎ᠠ ᠬᠤᠯᠠ; * 16th Century; † 1634 ) was a prince (Tayiji) of the Oirats and ruled from about 1600 to 1634. He came from the Khoros, who had set the Oirats rulers in the 15th century and settled in the Altai region. A little later, in competition with the Mongolian vassals of the Qing dynasty, his association took the designation Jüün Ghar , d. H. left wing and is also often noted under this term.

Since the late 15th century the Oirats were repeatedly ousted by the Mongols, when the Khalka emerged as their most aggressive tribe after around 1580 . At that time the Oirats lived scattered along the Irtysh and Altai rivers and were very fragmented, so that some leaders had to submit to their neighbors (Mongols, Kazakhs, Russians) at times or at least sought support from them. In the early 17th century, Scholoi-Ubashi Altan Khan (ruled 1586–1627) and his son Ombo-Erdeni Altan Khan (ruled 1627–1651) were the main opponents of the Oirats in several loss-making disputes by the Khalka.

A part of the Oirats (especially Khu Urluk of the Torghuud ) decided to emigrate, while another opposed the Khalka. Around 1606-09 they achieved a success against the Altan Khan and ousted him again from the Chovd region . But in 1614/15 they were forced to pay tribute or to flee because of a lossy winter and another attack. In the year 1616/17 the Oiraten leaders gathered around their nominal head Baibagas († approx. 1630, from the Khoshuud ), decided inner peace and a renewed action against the Khalka. But because of the internal rivalries, success initially failed. In 1620, Khara-Khula sought help from Russia against the Khalka with an embassy, ​​and was asked to submit to the tsar, but no help. Dissatisfied with this answer, he took part in new forays into Russian outposts (1622). In the 1620s an army of 16,000 Khoshuud , 6,000 Khoros and 14,000 Dörböd , Khoit and Torghuud were deployed against the Khalka, but the fighting against the Altan Khan in 1623 ended in a draw, despite many prisoners, Khara-Khula also lost many people. After further unsuccessful battles, the Altan Khan was finally defeated in 1628/9, and part of the Oirats returned to the jungle.

The success was only apparent, however, because despite the threat from the Khalka, the Oirats got into a serious tribal conflict in 1625-30. Their nominal head Baibagas, the Tayishi of the Khoshuud , was attacked and defeated by his brother Chokur in an inheritance dispute. The other leaders, especially Dalay-Bagatur († 1637) from the Dörböd and Khara-Khula tried to mediate in the interests of unity, but were unsuccessful. Ultimately, the dissolution of the Oiraten Confederation continued until Khara-Khula's son and successor Khungtaidschi Batur (r. 1634–1653) proclaimed the Djungarian khanate on Imil in 1640 or in the Seven Rivers.

Remarks

1. ↑ The Khalka were divided into 16./17. Century in four large groups: the Tüsiyetü, Chechen, Jasaktu and just the Altan or Altyn khans, to which Scholoi-Ubashi and Ombo Erdeni belonged.

literature

• Michael Khodarkovsky: Where Two Worlds Met. The Russian State and the Kalmyk Nomads, 1600-1771 . Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY 1992, ISBN 0-8014-2555-7 .
• Peter C. Perdue: China Marches West. The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia . Belknap Press, Cambridge, Mass. 2005, ISBN 0-674-01684-X .