Oirat Confederation

Four Oirats
ᡑᡈᠷᡋᡈᠨ
ᡆᡕᡅᠷᠠᡑ
*Dörbön Oyirad*
ᠳᠥᠷᠪᠡᠨ
ᠣᠶ᠋ᠢᠷᠠᠳ
Дөрвөн Ойрад
*Dörvön Oirad*
Four Oirats ᡑᡈᠷᡋᡈᠨ; ᡆᡕᡅᠷᠠᡑ; Dörbön Oyirad; ᠳᠥᠷᠪᠡᠨ; ᠣᠶ᠋ᠢᠷᠠᠳ; Дөрвөн Ойрад; Dörvön Oirad
1399–1634
	[1600] YARKENT; KHANATE TURPAN; KHANATE TSANGPA CHAM-; PA MING; DYNASTY MUGHAL; EMPIRE VIJAYA; NAGARA MADURAI SAFAVID; EMPIRE OTTOMAN; EMPIRE KHIVA; KHANATE BUKHARA; KHANATE KAZAKH KHANATE TSARDOM OF RUSSIA CRIMEAN; KHANATE JO-; SEON AYUT-; THAYA DAI; VIET LAN; NA FOUR; OIRATS NORTHERN YUAN The Oirat Confederation and contemporary Asian polities c. 1600
Status	Confederation
Common languages	Mongolic
Religion	Mongolian shamanism; later Buddhism;
Government	Monarchy
Taishi
Legislature	Customary rules; Mongol-Oirat Code;
Historical era	Postclassical to early modern period
• Möngke-Temür places himself at the head of the Oirats	1399
• Oirats overthrow a Genghisid Khagan	1399
• Esen Taishi becomes Northern Yuan Khagan	1453–54
• Movement of the Torghuds to the Volga	1616–17
• Establishments of the Dzungar Khanate and the Khoshut Khanate	1630s
• Disestablished	1634
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Northern Yuan
Dzungar Khanate
Kalmyk Khanate
Khoshut Khanate

The Four Oirats (Written Oirat: ᡑᡈᠷᡋᡈᠨ
ᡆᡕᡅᠷᠠᡑ, Dörbön Oyirad; Mongolian: Дөрвөн Ойрад, romanized: Dörvön Oirad, pronounced [ˈtɵrw̜ʊ̈ɴ ˈɞe̯ɾ(ə)t]; Chinese: 四衛拉特) or Oirat Confederation, formerly known as the Eleuths, was the confederation of the Oirat tribes which marked the rise of the Western Mongols in the history of the Mongolian Plateau.

Despite the universal currency of the term "Four Oirat" among Eastern Mongols, Oirats, and numerous explanations by historians, no consensus has been reached on the identity of the original four tribes. While it is believed that the term Four Oirats refers to the Choros, Torghut, Dorbet and Khoid tribes, there is a theory that the Oirats were not consanguineous units, but political-ethnic units composed of many patrilineages. In the early period, the Kergüd tribe also belonged to the confederation.