Altan Khan of the Khalkha

Although they claimed to be Khan, Mongolian chronicles call them Hun Taij, which was a noble rank equivalent to prince.

After the death of Dayan Khan some time after 1517 his empire was split between his descendants and became a kind of family federation.

Dayan Khan's youngest son, Gersendze Huangtaizi, was given lands approximately matching the territory of present-day Mongolia.

The Tushetu Khan, with his control of the religious capital, was long the leading figure in Khalkha.

In the 17th century, to the west, the Oirat Dzungar Khanate was gradually consolidated in modern-day Xinjiang; to the north, the Russians increased their hold over the Siberian forests; and, to the east, the Manchus moved south to conquer the Ming dynasty, eventually forming the Qing dynasty.