Did the Dzungar Khanate fall to climate change rather than war?
New research finds that the collapse of the Dzungar Khanate, Central Asia's last major nomadic empire — long attributed to conquest by the Qing dynasty — was actually driven by a combination of climate-driven grassland collapse, famine, and a smallpox epidemic.
Founded in 1635 by the western Mongol Oirat tribes, the Dzungar Khanate is considered the last gr..