‘Register of Dzungar Rifles’: or the Question of New Dzungar Recruits for the Stavropol Corps of Kalmyk Christians in State Policy, Late 1750s – Early 1760s

Introduction. The article deals with religious policies that influenced ethnoconfessional military communities in the southeast of the Russian Empire during early modern period. The work provides a first attempt to examine the resettlement of Dzungar Oirat refugees (Russ. zengortsy) from Siberia to the Volga territories and their integration into the Stavropol Kalmyk Host. Materials and Methods. The study analyzes documents of central and local institutions that specify the latter’s attitudes towards both Dzungar arrivals and, at large, irregular units of Kalmyk Christians in steppe border areas. A number of applied techniques inherent to source studies and archaeography made it possible to gain a comprehensive insight into the research materials and reveal certain ties that characterize trends of Russian policies towards the Dzungar question. Results. Clarification of the internal and external reasons to have forced the authorities to conscript Dzungars into the Stavropol Kalmyk Host, i. e. the need to strengthen the latter as a border military-and-police force right after the conflict with the Qing over South Siberian subjects was settled is provided. The paper shows the distribution and infrastructure development of the arrivals across unoccupied lands of the Stavropol Host. Special attention is paid to the biography of Noyon Norbo Danjin, a relative of Amursana who lead Dzungars to the Volga to become a Christian colonel, military judge, and advisor to the Collegium of Foreign Affairs. In terms of discussion, the work outlines the Dzungar conscription in Stavropol-on-Volga historiographically, delineates its correlation to the situation with available sources on contacts between Russia, Qing China, and nomads (Dzungars, Kazakhs). Conclusions. The paper acknowledges the collapse of the Dzungar Khanate proved an enormous geopolitical shift that forced Russia to restructure its external policies across southeastern steppe peripheries and develop its military strength, which brought Dzungar reserve units of the Stavropol Host in significant demand.

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