Kho Orluk was an Oirat prince and Tayishi of the Torghut-Oirat tribe. Around 1616, Kho Orluk persuaded the other Torghut princes and lesser nobility to move their tribe en masse westward through southern Siberia and southward along the Emba River to the grass steppes north of the Russian garrison at Astrakhan. During the process of securing the steppes for his people, Kho Orluk met limited resistance from the local Muslim tribesman, therefore setting the foundation of what later became known as the Kalmyk Khanate.