Abstract: The purpose of the work is to identify the features of the formation of an ethnic image and its constituent elements, which have become widespread in the works of foreigners. The subject of this article is the image of the Kalmyks, created by foreign travelers of the XVII – first half of the XVIII century. The research material is travelogues by foreign authors, which allow taking into account the subjective moment of perception, revealing the problem of historical reality and its representation in a historical source. The article assumes the solution of the following tasks: 1) identification of the factors that led to the perception of Kalmyks by observers, 2) description of the means used by foreign travelers, recreating in travelogues the main features of the image of Kalmyks, and their worldview, which influenced the construction of this image, 3) assessment of the socio-cultural consequences that arose as a result of the formation of ethnic stereotypes about Kalmyks. The historical discourse of otherness is revealed using the method of semiotics. The analysis of narrative details and the logic of the text revealed information about foreigners' ideas about Kalmyks and stereotypes associated with the perception of the "Other". The theoretical and methodological basis of the article is the works of Russian and foreign researchers in the field of imagology. There are no special imagological studies in Kalmyk historical science, which gives relevance to this work. The novelty of the work lies in the correlation of travelogues' information about the Kalmyks with the civilizational models prevailing in the public consciousness of observers in the XVII – first half of the XVIII century. Through the semiotic analysis of texts, the systematization of travelers' value judgments has been carried out. The results obtained indicate that the structure of the ethnic stereotype is characterized by a certain task. Foreigners' ideas about Kalmyks allowed them to take an inside look at their imaginary universe. Travelers imagined their world to be the center of the universe, on the outskirts of which were the Kalmyks barbarians. When explaining the difference between the "own" and "alien" world, the authors used the techniques of comparison and inversion. The interpretation of Kalmyk realities is achieved with the help of such a topos of ethnographic discourse as a story about miracles. Through the denial of negative traits attributed to "Others", one's own identity is being formed, a stable image of "One's Own". The ideas of travelers influenced the formation of the image of the Kalmyks in Europe and the Ottoman Empire.