Choros (/ˈtʃɔːrəs/;Chakhar:ᠴᠣᠷᠣᠰ[ˈtɕʰɔɾɔ̆s] orTsoros (Khalkha:ЦоросCoros[ˈtsʰɔrɞ̆s];Chinese:綽羅斯) was the ruling clan of the Ööld andDörbet Oirat and once ruled the wholeFour Oirat. They founded theDzungar Khanate in the 17th century. Their chiefs reckoned their descent from a boy nourished by a sacred tree.

In the late 14th century, theOirats emerged as the dominant power opposing theKhalkha Mongols. The ruling clan of theFour Oirat was Choros at the time. Under their leadership, the Western Mongols establishedDzungar Khanate.

In 1455 other Oirat tribes overthrew the Choros Khan,Esen Taishi, who had enthroned himselfKhagan of theMongols. About 1620 the Choros scattered after bitter fighting with theAltan Khan of the Khalkha. The Khalkha and southwesternInner Mongolian princes repeatedly raided them from 1552 to 1628, forcing them to migrate further west. Some of the Choros fled with a group of theDörbet Oirat northward intoSiberia and present-dayBarnaul. But they crushed the Khalkha Altan Khan; and made an alliance with the northern Khalkhas in 1640.

By 1690 three Oirat states had emerged: theKhoshut, theKalmyk and theDzungar Khanate. The majority of the Choros with the Dörbet and the Khoids settled in the region of the Black Irtysh, theUlungur River, theEmil River, and theIli River, forming the Dzungar Khanate.^[1] The Dzunghar Khanate was ruled by the Dörbet and the Choros, displacing the Khoshut in from their homelandDzungaria. Although they reached their peak in the late 17th century, they began to disintegrate afterGaldan Boshugtu Khan's wars with the Qing. The Choros were defeated in 1697 and 1771 and they were annexed by theQing dynasty.

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  Oirat Choros Prince (Taiji,Chinese:台吉) fromIli, and his wife.Huang Qing Zhigong Tu, 1769.^[2]
• 
  Oirat Choros tribal leader (Zaisang, 宰桑) fromIli, with his wife.Huang Qing Zhigong Tu, 1769.^[3]
• 
  Oirat Choros commoners fromIli region.Huang Qing Zhigong Tu, 1769.^[4]

• Хойт С.К.Этническая история ойратских групп. Элиста, 2015. 199 с.
• Хойт С.К.Данные фольклора для изучения путей этногенеза ойратских групп // Международная научная конференция «Сетевое востоковедение: образование, наука, культура», 7-10 декабря 2017 г.: материалы. Элиста: Изд-во Калм. ун-та, 2017. с. 286-289.

• Mongol dynasties
• Dzungar Khanate
• Oirats

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