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East Asia · Ming, Joseon, Ryukyu and the later steppe

Khoshut Khanate

1642–1717

The Khoshut (Qoshot) Khanate (1642–1717) was an Oirat Mongol khanate based on the Tibetan Plateau (centered in modern Qinghai/Kokonor), founded by Güshi Khan (Töröbaikhu, 1582–1655) of the Borjigin line. Answering an appeal from the Gelug ("Yellow Hat") school, Güshi Khan invaded and by 1642 defeated the Gelug's opponents (the Tsangpa and their allies), making himself the main patron-protector of the 5th Dalai Lama, who established the Ganden Phodrang civil government.

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Existed
1642–1717
Shown on the map
1582–1695
Peak area
293k km²
Region
East Asia

Overview

The Khoshut (Qoshot) Khanate (1642–1717) was an Oirat Mongol khanate based on the Tibetan Plateau (centered in modern Qinghai/Kokonor), founded by Güshi Khan (Töröbaikhu, 1582–1655) of the Borjigin line. Answering an appeal from the Gelug ("Yellow Hat") school, Güshi Khan invaded and by 1642 defeated the Gelug's opponents (the Tsangpa and their allies), making himself the main patron-protector of the 5th Dalai Lama, who established the Ganden Phodrang civil government. Güshi accepted nominal Qing suzerainty in 1654 (receiving a seal from the Shunzhi Emperor). Whether the khanate genuinely governed Tibet or merely provided military patronage (the "priest-patron" relationship) is debated; Güshi appointed the minister Sonam Rapten as de facto administrator. Its khans were Güshi (1642–1655), Dayan (1655–1668), Tenzin Dalai Khan (1668–1696/1701), Tenzin Wangchuk (1696–1697/1701–1703), and Lhazang Khan (1697/1703–1717). It ended in 1717 when the Dzungars invaded Tibet and killed Lhazang Khan.

Common questions

What was the Khoshut Khanate?
The Khoshut (Qoshot) Khanate (1642–1717) was an Oirat Mongol khanate based on the Tibetan Plateau (centered in modern Qinghai/Kokonor), founded by Güshi Khan (Töröbaikhu, 1582–1655) of the Borjigin line. Answering an appeal from the Gelug ("Yellow Hat") school, Güshi Khan invaded and by 1642 defeated the Gelug's opponents (the Tsangpa and their allies), making himself the main patron-protector of the 5th Dalai Lama, who established the Ganden Phodrang civil government.
When did the Khoshut Khanate exist?
The Khoshut Khanate existed 1642–1717. On this map it is drawn 1582–1695.
How large was the Khoshut Khanate?
At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Khoshut Khanate covered about 293,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.

Sources

This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia article for each polity as the basis of these profiles, supplemented by Encyclopaedia Britannica, chinaknowledge.de, the World History Encyclopedia, museum and university sources, and the academic works it lists. The article this entry is anchored on:

This entry was last updated .

This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made

Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.

Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).

Around the same time

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