Kalmyk people in the context of "Republic of Kalmykia"

Kalmykia, officially the Republic of Kalmykia, is a republic of Russia, located in the Volga region of European Russia. The republic is part of the Southern Federal District, and borders Dagestan to the south and Stavropol Krai to the southwest; Volgograd Oblast to the northwest and north and Astrakhan Oblast to the north and east; Rostov Oblast to the west and the Caspian Sea to the east. Through the Caspian Depression, the Kuma river forms Kalmykia's natural border with Dagestan. Kalmykia is the only polity within Europe where the Dharmic religion of Buddhism is the predominant religion; the majority of Kalmyk people are Vajrayana Tibetan Buddhists of the Gelug and Kagyu lineages.

The Kalmykia republic covers an area of 76,100 square kilometres (29,400 square miles), with a small population of about 275,000 residents. The republic of Kalmykia is home of the Kalmyks, a people of Oirat Mongolian origin who are mainly of Tibetan Buddhist faith. The capital of the republic is the city of Elista.

Kalmyk Oirat (Хальмг Өөрдин келн, IPA: [xalʲmə́k ɵːrd̥íɴ kʰelə́ɴ]), also known as the Kalmyk language (Хальмг келн) and formerly anglicized as Calmuck, is a variety of the Oirat language, natively spoken by the Kalmyk people of Kalmykia, a federal subject of Russia. In Russia, it is the standard form of the Oirat Mongolian (based on the Torgut dialect), which belongs to the Mongolic language family. The Kalmyk people of the Northwest Caspian Sea of Russia claim descent from the Oirats from Eurasia, who have also historically settled in Mongolia and Northwest China. According to UNESCO, the language is "definitely endangered". According to the Russian census of 2021, there are 110,000 speakers out of an ethnic population consisting of 178,000 people.

The epic of Jangar or Jangar epic (Kalmyk: Җаңһр, romanized: Cañhr, [d͡ʒaŋɣər]; Mongolian: ᠵᠢᠩᠭᠠᠷ, Жангар, romanized: Jangar, [d͡ʒɑŋɢər]) is a traditional oral epic poem (tuuli) of the Mongols. It was long thought to be particular to the Kalmyks, but is now known to also be widely told among the Oirats in Mongolia, China and Russia. The story is recited by singers called Jangarchi (Kalmyk: Җаңһрч, romanized: Cañhrç, [d͡ʒaŋɣərt͡ʃə]). The Jangar has approximately 25 or 26 chapters, though certain versions may have more than 100 chapters.

Oirat (Clear Script: ᡆᡅ᠋ᠷᡆᡑ
ᡍᡄᠯᡄᠨ, Oyirod kelen; Kalmyk: Өөрд, Öörd [øːˈɾət]; Khalkha: Ойрад, Oirad [ˈœe̯ɾət]) is a Mongolic language spoken by the descendants of Oirat Mongols, now forming parts of Mongols in China, Kalmyks in Russia and Mongolians. Largely mutually intelligible to other core Central Mongolic languages, scholars differ as to whether they regard Oirat as a distinct language or a major dialect of the Mongolian language. Oirat-speaking areas are scattered across the far west of Mongolia, the northwest of China and Russia's Siberia region and Caspian coast, where its major variety is Kalmyk. In China, it is spoken mainly in Xinjiang, but also among the Deed Mongol of Qinghai and Subei County in Gansu.

In all three countries, Oirat has become variously endangered or even obsolescent as a direct result of government actions or as a consequence of social and economic policies. Its most widespread tribal dialect, which is spoken in all of these nations, is Torgut. The term Oirat or more precisely, Written Oirat is sometimes also used to refer to the language of historical documents written in the Clear script.

Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast (AO) (Russian: Калмыцкая автономная область; Kalmyk: Хальмг Автономн Таңhч, Xaľmg Awtonomn Tañhç) was an autonomy of the Kalmyk people within the Russian SFSR that existed at two separate periods.

It was first established in November 1920. Its administrative center was Astrakhan. In June 1928, it was included into Lower Volga Krai. In January 1934, Lower Volga Krai was split into Saratov Krai and Stalingrad Krai, and Kalmyk AO was included as a part of the latter. In October 1935, Kalmyk AO was raised in status and became the Kalmyk ASSR (abolished in 1943).