Izvestiya of Saratov University.
ISSN 1819-4907 (Print)
ISSN 2542-1913 (Online)


Oyrats

Kalmaks of Desht-i-Kipchak (to the problem tyurkization and the islamiza-tion of mongolians in the gold horde)

It is now believed that the name «Kalmyks» was concerned with Oyrats who came to the territory of Kazakhstan in the early 17th century. Russian and Western European documents write about Kalmaks since the fifteenth century. New data show that in Russia they knew about Kalmaks from personal contacts with them. The name “Kalmak” existed and was often used in Russia in the XVI century. West European travellers and geographers Jenkinson (1558), A.Vid (1537), S. Gerbersteen (1526), M. Mekhovskiy (1521), Fra-Mauro (1459), A. Contarini (1475) etc.