Dörbet (Choros clan)

Dörbet (Choros clan)
Dörbets
Regions with significant populations
 Mongolia 72,403 [1]
 China
Languages

Oirat

Religion

Tibetan Buddhism, Shamanism, Atheism

Related ethnic groups

Kalmyks, Oirats, Mongols

The Dörbet (Mongol: Дөрвөд, lit. "the Fours") is the second largest subgroup of the Mongol people in modern Mongolia and was one major tribe of the Four Oirat confederation in 15th-18th century. In early times, the Dörbet and the Dzungars were ruled by collateral branches of the Choros. The Do'rbets are distributed among the western provinces of Mongolia, Kalmykia, and small portion in Heilongjiang, China. In Mongolia, Dörbets are centered in the Uvs province.


Contents

History

A Dörben clan of Duwa Sohor's four sons existed within the Khamag Mongol confederation in the 12th century; but their relation with the Dörbets is unclear. However, the Dörbets appeared in the early 15th century as part of the Four Oirats.

In the 17th century, the leader of Do'rbets was Baatar Dalai Taishi (d.1637). In order to unite the Oirad Mongols, Dalai Taishi used the method of marriage of convenience; Dalai Taishi and Khoshut leader Güshi Khan married the Torgut and Kho Orluk sisters.[2] During the Dalai Taishi period (circa 1625), the Oirat tribes lived in harmony.

In 1616, Dalai Taishi established diplomatic relation with the Tsardom of Russia. The next year Dalai Taishi's son Solom Tseren joined the Kalmyks on the Volga with 4,000 households. In 1699 a body of the Dörbets joined the Don Cossacks, eventually becoming the Buzava Kalmyks. Trapped west of the Volga, the Do'rbets could not join the 1771 flight of the Torguds, and hence dominated the remaining Kalmyks. In the early 19th century, they had split into the Lesser Dörbets (Baga Dorbod), living in northern Kalmykia and the Greater Dörbets (Их Дөрвөд), living around Lake Manych-Gudilo.

Meanwhile, the Dörbets in the Oirat homeland remained major tribe of the Zunghars. In 1753 three chiefs of them submitted to the Qing Dynasty. They were resettled first in Bayankhongor Province, and then in Uvs Province in 1759. They formed into 16 banners of the Sain Zayaatu Leagues. The Dörbets nobility's 15,000 subjects included Bayids and a small number of Khotongs.

From the 1880s, the Khalkha influenced Dörbets socio-economic trends. The Kalmyk Dambijantsan headed the anti-communist disturbances; and separatist feeling had remained strong until 1930's.

Number

The Dörbets in Mongolia numbered 55,200 in 1989. In 2000 - 66 706 [3].

Notable people

References

  • Galushkin S.K., Spitsyn V.A., Crawford M.H. Genetic Structure of Mongolic-speaking Kalmyks // Human Biology, December 2001, v.73, no. 6, pp. 823–834.
  • Хойт С.К. Белые пятна в этногенезе дэрбэт // Молодежь и наука: третье тысячелетие. Материалы II республиканской научно-практической конференции (Элиста, 30 ноября 2005 г.). Элиста: АОр «НПП «Джангар», 2006. стр. 104-122. - in Russian
  • Хойт С.К. Генетическая структура европейских ойратских групп по локусам ABO, RH, HP, TF, GC, ACP1, PGM1, ESD, GLO1, SOD-A // Проблемы этнической истории и культуры тюрко-монгольских народов. Сборник научных трудов. Вып. I. Элиста: КИГИ РАН, 2009. с. 146-183. - in Russian