Mongolia

Facts & Figures

Map of Mongolia

President: Tsakhiagiyn Elbegdorj (2009)

Prime Minister: Norov Altankhuyag (2012)

Total area: 604,247 sq mi (1,565,000 sq km)

Population (2010 est.): 3,086,918 (growth rate: 1.4%); birth rate: 21.0/1000; infant mortality rate: 38.5/1000; life expectancy: 67.9; density per sq km: 1

Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Ulaan Baatar, 804,200

Monetary unit: Tugrik

More Facts & Figures

Index

Mongolia Main Page
Chinese-Russian Treaty
Mongolian Democratic Revolution
Mongolia's Economy Grows and So Does Worry Over China

Geography

Mongolia lies in central Asia between Siberia on the north and China on the south. It is slightly larger than Alaska.

The productive regions of Mongolia—a tableland ranging from 3,000 to 5,000 ft (914 to 1,524 m) in elevation—are in the north, which is well drained by numerous rivers, including the Hovd, Onon, Selenga, and Tula. Much of the Gobi Desert falls within Mongolia.

Government

Parliamentary republic now in transition from communism.

History

Nomadic tribes that periodically plundered agriculturally based China from the west are recorded in Chinese history dating back more than 2,000 years. It was to protect China from these marauding peoples that the Great Wall was constructed around 200 B.C. The name Mongol comes from a small tribe whose leader, Ghengis Khan, began a conquest that would eventually encompass an enormous empire stretching from Asia to Europe, as far west as the Black Sea and as far south as India and the Himalayas. But by the 14th century, the kingdom was in serious decline, with invasions from a resurgent China and internecine warfare.

The State of Mongolia was formerly known as Outer Mongolia. It contains the original homeland of the historic Mongols, whose power reached its zenith during the 13th century under Kublai Khan. The area accepted Manchu rule in 1689, but after the Chinese Revolution of 1911 and the fall of the Manchus in 1912, the northern Mongol princes expelled the Chinese officials and declared independence under the Khutukhtu, or “Living Buddha.”