Dzungar genocide

Dzungar genocide
Part of the Conquest of Dzungaria
Battle of Oroi-Jalatu in 1756
Location	Dzungar Khanate (Dzungaria, Western Mongolia, Kazakhstan, northern Kyrgyzstan, southern Siberia)
Date	1755–1758
Target	Dzungars
Attack type	Genocide (ethnocide)
Deaths	480,000- 600,000 80% of the 600,000 Dzungar population
Perpetrators	Qing Manchu Eight Banners, Mongol Banners

The Dzungar genocide (Chinese: 准噶尔灭族; pinyin: Zhǔngá'ěr mièzú) was the mass extermination of the Buddhist Dzungar people, sometimes referred as "Zunghars", at the hands of the ManchuQing dynasty of China and the Uyghur Muslims of Xinjiang. The Qianlong Emperor ordered the genocide due to the Dzungar leader Amursana's rebellion against Qing rule after the dynasty first conquered the Dzungar Khanate with Amursana's support before he rebelled in 1755. The genocide was perpetrated by Manchu generals of the Qing army sent to crush the Dzungars, supported by allies and vassals like Uyghur leader Khoja Emin due to the Uyghurs revolt against Dzungar rule.

The Dzungars were a confederation of several Tibetan Buddhist Oirat tribes that emerged suddenly in the early 17th century. The Dzungar Khanate was the last great nomadic empire in Asia. Some scholars estimate that about 80% of the Dzungar population, or around 500,000 to 800,000 people, were killed by a combination of warfare and disease during or after the Qing conquest in 1755–1757. After wiping out the native population of Dzungaria, the Qing government then resettled Han Chinese, Hui, Uyghur, and Xibe people on state farms in Dzungaria along with Manchu Bannermen to repopulate the area.

The Qing dynasty went to war against the Dzungars in the Dzungar–Qing War. The Dzungars lived in the area stretching from the west end of the Great Wall of China to present-day eastern Kazakhstan and from present-day northern Kyrgyzstan to southern Siberia (most of which is located in present-day Xinjiang). They were the last nomadic empire to threaten China, which they did from the early 17th century through the middle of the 18th century.