They are the descendants of the Dzungar Khanate, that after suffering a crushing defeat and a massacre at the hands of the Chinese-Manchu empire, fled west to Russia where they put themselves under the protection of the Tsar in exchange for military service.

 

Politically, they were awarded the status of "Cossacks" although they still retained their Mongol language, practiced Buddism, and maintained horse-archery as their main battle tactics.

 

Regarding the Kalmyks today,

how much do they have in common with the Mongols in the East? Is their language intelligible with that spoken in Mongolia?

Is their lifestyle more or less the same as eastern Mongols?

 

Have they Russified to a great extent?

Politically, do they generally identify more with a "Cossack" nation or with a "Mongol" nation?

 

The grandmother of Lenin was a baptised Kalmyk.

 

Kalmyks had uneasy relations with the Russian authorities at that time; so they gladly agreed. Most of the large Kalmyk Horde moved back. But only a fraction of them was able to reach their ancestors lands. Most of them were massacred by Kazakhs or died on the way.

 

The modern Russian Kalmyks are the ancestors of the small part of Kalmyk horde that stayed. In fact, on the version of the explanation of the origin of the term Kalmyk is that it originated from the Turkic word remnant. "Kalmyk" means remnant in Turkic meaning that those Kalmyks that stayed are only remnants of the large Horde that had left.

 

Regarding their self identity, they regard themselves as Kalmyks. They know of course about their Mongol root and affinity with other Mongolic ethnicities; but they clearly regard themselves as a separate people from Khalkha Mongols, Buriats etc.

 

 

If the area was so sparsely populated anyway, it certainly wouldn't do much damage to Kazakh livelihood.

 

What are the Kalmyks' relation to other Cossacks? Do they feel identified with them? How do the Slavic Cossack perceive the Kalmyks?

 

 

Because for the previous 200 years Jungars were the most bitter enemies of Kazakhs that almost destroyed them. Not to say that at that time Kazakhs were at war with almost all of their neighbors.

 

Originally posted by calvo If the area was so sparsely populated anyway, it certainly wouldn't do much damage to Kazakh livelihood.

 

The point is that they had to cross through the Kazakh steppe before getting to the devastated Jungar steppe. In fact the Jungar steppe later became populated by Kazakhs as well and they even reached the lands of Khalkha Mongols eventually.

 

 

Originally posted by calvo What are the Kalmyks' relation to other Cossacks? Do they feel identified with them? How do the Slavic Cossack perceive the Kalmyks?

 

Not all Kalmyks are Cossacks, only a part of them. But Russian Cossacks perceive Kalmyk Cossacks as their Cossack brother, the same relates to other Cossacks as well including Ukrainian Cossacks of Kuban, Bashkir and Tatar Cossacks.

 

Generally speaking Kalmyks are regarded with respect among Cossacks.

 

 

Kalmyk Cossacks were a part of Don Cossack Voisko and for some time lived in distinctive Kalmyk stanitsas.

 

As I said, before the special Kalmyk district was created within Don Cossack Voisko they had been called Kalmyk Voisko (and were a part of Russian irregular cavalry units which also included Kazakh, Bashkir and Cossack units), but never Kalmyk Cossack Voisko.

 

Another intriguing question is how the steppe people peceived the concept of "nationhood". Most of the peoples, Kazakhs, Kirgiz, Oriats, and Kalmyks were all tribal federations with no centralised government. How could a Kazakh identify a fellow kazakh tribe from a Kirgiz?

The Kalmyks, being Buddhist and speaking Mongolian language, obviously stood out among a sea of Muslim Turks, but how was the difference between Kalmyks and other Mongol nations perceived?

 

 

 

Hard to say. I guess they are "even" if one can say so; since before the massacres in the 18th century, Oirats i.e. Kalmyks/Jungars were literally terrorizing Kirgizs and Kazakhs. Jungar invasion is considered the most hardest perios of Kazakh history ever and called the "years of great sorrow." It's also meaningful that Kyrgyz herois epic "Manas" is mainly about the fight with Jungars.

 

Recently, if I remember correctly, there were some celebrations in Kazakhstan with regard to the victory over Kalmyk expedition back to Jungaria that created hard feelings among Kalmyks. Kalmyks were also very dissapointed with the recent Kazakh epic movie "Nomad," calling it a "fantazy." However, generally speaking the relations between the 3 people are fine. A lot of Kazakhs and Kalmyks I met talk about close mentality.

 

 

Originally posted by calvo Another intriguing question is how the steppe people peceived the concept of "nationhood". Most of the peoples, Kazakhs, Kirgiz, Oriats, and Kalmyks were all tribal federations with no centralised government. How could a Kazakh identify a fellow kazakh tribe from a Kirgiz?

 

Very easy. Kyrgyz customs and language especially medieval Kyrgyz were notably different from Kazakhs' ones. Also Kyrgyzs tribes were not part the Kazakhs' 3 hordes confederations. So, there were no big problems with differentiating between them.

 

Originally posted by calvo The Kalmyks, being Buddhist and speaking Mongolian language, obviously stood out among a sea of Muslim Turks, but how was the difference between Kalmyks and other Mongol nations perceived?

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