It is now believed that the name «Kalmyks» was concerned with Oyrats who came to the territory of Kazakhstan in the early 17th century. Russian and Western European documents write about Kalmaks since the fifteenth century. New data show that in Russia they knew about Kalmaks from personal contacts with them. The name “Kalmak” existed and was often used in Russia in the XVI century. West European travellers and geographers Jenkinson (1558), A.Vid (1537), S. Gerbersteen (1526), M. Mekhovskiy (1521), Fra-Mauro (1459), A. Contarini (1475) etc.
