Oirats

Oirats (; Mongolian: Ойрад) or Oirds (Mongolian: Ойрд; Oirat: Өөрд), formerly known as Eluts and Eleuths ( or ; Chinese: 厄魯特, Èlǔtè) are the westernmost group of Mongols, whose ancestral home is in the Altai region of Siberia, Xinjiang and western Mongolia.

The first documented reference to Elut and Yelut was in the Ongin "rune" inscriptions dated in the sixth century. The dating of the Oirats to the 13th century is based on the text of the Secret History of the Mongols. Historically, the Oirats were composed of four major tribes: Dzungar (Choros or Olots), Torghut, Dörbet and Khoshut. The modern Kalmyks of Kalmykia on the Caspian Sea in southeastern Europe are Oirats.