Dzungar genocide in the context of "Nomadic empire"

Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia, lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir mountain ranges. It is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and China to the east and southeast. Bishkek is the capital and largest city. Ethnic Kyrgyz make up the majority of the country's over 7 million people, followed by significant minorities of Uzbeks and Russians.

Kyrgyzstan's history spans a variety of cultures and empires. Although geographically isolated by its highly mountainous terrain, Kyrgyzstan has been at the crossroads of several great civilizations as part of the Silk Road along with other commercial routes. Inhabited by a succession of tribes and clans, Kyrgyzstan has periodically fallen under larger domination, for example the Turkic nomads, who trace their ancestry to many Turkic states. It was first established as the Yenisei Kyrgyz Khanate. Later, in the 13th century, Kyrgyzstan was conquered by the Mongol Empire and under several Mongol dynasties; it regained independence, but was later invaded by the Dzungar Khanate. After the fall of Dzhungars, Kyrgyz and Kipchaks were an integral part of Kokand Khanate.

45°00′N 85°00′E / 45.000°N 85.000°E / 45.000; 85.000

Dzungaria (/(d)zʊŋˈɡɛəriə/; from the Mongolian words züün gar, meaning 'left hand'), also known as Northern Xinjiang or Beijiang, is a geographical subregion in Northwest China that corresponds to the northern half of Xinjiang. Bound by the Altai Mountains to the north and the Tian Shan mountain range to the south, Dzungaria covers approximately 777,000 km (300,000 sq mi), and borders Kazakhstan to the west and Mongolia to the east. In contexts prior to the mid-18th century Dzungar genocide, the term "Dzungaria" could cover a wider area, coterminous with the Oirat-led Dzungar Khanate.

The Dzungar Khanate (Mongolian: ᠵᠡᠭᠦᠨᠭᠠᠷ ᠣᠯᠣᠰ Зүүнгар Улс), also known as the Zunghar Khanate or Junggar Khanate, was a nomadic khanate of Oirat Mongol origin. At its greatest extent, it covered an area from southern Siberia in the north to present-day Kyrgyzstan in the south, and from present-day west of Mongolia and the Great Wall of China in the east to present-day Kazakhstan in the west. The core of the Dzungar Khanate is today part of northern Xinjiang, also called Dzungaria.

About 1620 the western Mongols, known as the Oirats, united in the Junggar Basin in Dzungaria. In 1678, Galdan received from the Dalai Lama the title of Boshogtu Khan, making the Dzungars the leading tribe within the Oirats. The Dzungar rulers used the title of Khong Tayiji, which translates into English as "crown prince". Between 1680 and 1688, the Dzungars conquered the Tarim Basin, which is now southern Xinjiang, and defeated the Khalkha Mongols to the east. In 1696, Galdan was defeated by the Qing dynasty and lost Outer Mongolia. In 1717, the Dzungars conquered Tibet, but were driven out in 1720 by the Qing. From 1755 to 1758, Qing China took advantage of a Dzungar civil war to conquer Dzungaria and killed 70–80% of the Dzungar population. The destruction of the Dzungars led to the Qing conquest of Mongolia, Tibet, and the creation of Xinjiang as a political administrative unit.

Amursana (Mongolian ᠠᠮᠤᠷᠰᠠᠨᠠᠭ᠎ᠠ; Chinese: 阿睦爾撒納; 1723 – 21 September 1757) was an 18th-century taishi (太师; 太師) or prince of the Khoit-Oirat tribe that ruled over parts of Dzungaria and Altishahr in present-day northwest China. Known as the last great Oirat hero, Amursana was the last of the Dzungar rulers. The defeat of his rebel forces by Qing dynasty Chinese armies in the late 1750s signaled the final extinction of Mongol influence and power in Inner Asia, ensured the incorporation of Mongol territory into the Qing Chinese Empire, and brought about the Dzungar genocide, the Qing Emperor's "final solution" to China's northwest frontier problems.

The Dzungar–Qing Wars (Mongolian: Зүүнгар-Чин улсын дайн, simplified Chinese: 准噶尔之役; traditional Chinese: 準噶爾之役; pinyin: Zhǔngá'ěr zhī Yì; lit. 'Dzungar Campaign') were a decades-long series of conflicts that pitted the Dzungar Khanate against the Qing dynasty and its Mongol vassals. Fighting took place over a wide swath of Inner Asia, from present-day central and eastern Mongolia to Tibet, Qinghai, and Xinjiang regions of present-day China. Qing victories ultimately led to the incorporation of Outer Mongolia, Tibet and Xinjiang into the Qing Empire that was to last until the fall of the dynasty in 1911–1912, and the genocide of much of the Dzungar population in the conquered areas.