Khoshut Khanate

The Khoshut Khanate was an Oirat khanate based in the Tibetan Plateau in the 17th and the 18th centuries. It was established in 1642 by Güshi Khan, a Khoshut prince and leader of the Upper Mongols. He was enthroned by the Dalai Lama as Khan and protector-ruler of Tibet. With Güshi Khan as a largely uninvolved overlord, the 5th Dalai Lama and his intimates established a civil administration which is referred to by historians as the Lhasa state. This Tibetan regime or government is also referred to as the Ganden Phodrang. The Khoshut Khanate was conquered by the troops of the Dzungar Khanate in 1717, who deposed Yeshe Gyatso, a pretender to the position of the Dalai Lama promoted by Lha-bzang Khan, the last ruler of the Khoshut Khanat. The Dzungars were in turn expelled by the expedition forces of the Qing dynasty from Tibet in 1720.

Khans of the Khoshut Khanate

Khoshut

The Khoshut (Mongolian: Хошууд, Khoshuud) are one of the four major tribes of the Oirat people. Originally, Khoshuuds were one of the Khorchin tribes in southeastern Mongolia, but in the mid-15th century they migrated to western Mongolia to become an ally of Oirats to counter central Mongolian military power. Their ruling family Galwas was the Hasarid-Khorchins who were deported by the Western Mongols.

The Khoshuts first appeared in the 1580s and by the 1620s were the most powerful Oirat tribe, led others in the Buddhism conversion. In 1636 Güshi Khan led many Khoshuds to occupy Kokenuur (Qinghai), and he was enthroned as king of Tibet by the 5th Dalai Lama (see also Upper Mongols). The Khoshut Khanate was established in 1642. Some time after 1645, his brother Kondeleng Ubashi migrated to the Volga, joining the Kalmyks. However, many Khoshuts remained in the Oirat homeland Dzungaria under Ochirtu Setsen.

After the Dzungar leader Galdan Boshogtu Khan killed Ochirtu, the Khoshut chief Khoroli submitted to the Qing dynasty with his people in 1686 and resettled in Alashan. They numbered 36,900 in 1990.