Editing Irkutsk Oblast (section)

===Pre-history===
Mongolic-related [[Slab Grave Culture|Slab Grave]] cultural monuments survive in [[Lake Baikal|Baikal]] territory.<ref>History of Mongolia, Volume I, 2003</ref>{{qn|date=January 2019}} The territory of [[Buryatia]] came under the control of the [[Xiongnu]] Empire (209 BC – 93 CE), of the Mongolian [[Xianbei state]] (93–234), of the [[Rouran Khaganate]] (330–555), of the [[Göktürk Khaganate]] (555-603), of the [[Eastern Turkic Khaganate]] (603-744), of the [[Uyghur Khaganate]] (744-847), of the [[Yenisei Kyrgyz]] (847-1219), of the [[Mongol Empire]] (1206–1368) and of the [[Northern Yuan]] (1368–1691).<ref name="HM">History of Mongolia, Volume II, 2003</ref> 
Medieval Mongol tribes like the [[Merkit]], [[Bayads]], [[Barga Mongols]] and [[Tümed]]s inhabited Buryatia.<ref name="HM"/> Today [[Buryats|Buryat-Mongols]] remain in the territory of the oblast.

[[Russian conquest of Siberia|Russian presence]] in the area dates from the 17th century: the [[Russian Tsardom]] expanded eastward following the [[conquest of the Khanate of Sibir]] in 1582. By the end of the 17th century, Irkutsk had become a small town, monasteries were being built, and suburbs and agricultural settlements had started to form.