Galdan Boshugtu Khan
The rise of the collection of Oirat clans into what became known as the [[Zunghar Khanate]] in the 1600s saw much of what is now southern Kazakhstan leave the control of the Kazakh Khans. The historian Barthold argued that only after [[Galdan Boshugtu Khan]], the [[Khong Tayiji]] of the Zunghars, had successfully conquered and destroyed the power of Sayram did he move his encampment west to the valley of the Ili, ensuring his control of [[Zhetysu]] east of Sayram. Galdan sent forces against Sayram in 1681, which must have been unsuccessful because they returned in 1683, when Barthold tells us that his commander Rabtan (probably [[Tsewang Rabtan]] took the city and razed it.