Mongolia
|
||||
| Currency | Tugrug (MNT) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mongolia is a country between China and Russia, in Asia. Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia and Central Asia. It borders Russia to the north and the People's Republic of China to the south, east and west. The capital and largest city, Ulan Bator/ Ulaan Battor, is home to about 38% of the population. Mongolia's political system is a parliamentary republic. Until recently, most of the people there were Buddhists, and many of them are nomads (people who always move and do not stay in one home), but this is changing. The largest city, and capital city is Ulaanbaatar, which has been spelled Ulan Bator and other ways in the past. The north and east parts of the country have many mountains, and part of the south part is the Gobi Desert. There are 2,791,272 people living in Mongolia, which is the 18th biggest country in the World, with an area of 1,564,116 square kilometres. The crime rate and the local night life are very low. Their language is Mongolian, but some know English, Chinese and Russian.
Contents |
[change] History
The area which is Mongolia has been ruled by various nomadic empires until the great 'Mongol Empire' was founded by Genghis Khan in 1206. After the collapse of the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols returned to their earlier nomadic lifestyle. After the 16th century, Mongolia came under the influence of Tibetan Buddhism and by the end of the 17th century, most of Mongolia had been incorporated into the area ruled by the Qing Dynasty. During the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, Mongolia declared independence, but had to struggle with the Soviet Union's help, until 1921 before the world accepted its independence. Mongolia is still a largely rural nation. The Mongolian Red Cross Society was set up in 1939. It has its headquarters in Ulan Bator. Since the end of the Soviet Union in 1992, Russia and the Ukraine lost interest in Mongolia. China and South Korea are its trade and political partners now. There have been much colder winters over the last few years that have killed many people and cattle.
[change] Climate
Mongolia has always had a steppe climate. It has very cold winters and mild summers. Things have gotten much worse lately. There have been much colder winters over the last few years that have killed many people and cattle.
On June 2, 2008 52 people and 200,000 head of cattle had died in heavy blizzards by the 2nd in Mongolia[1].
On March 1st to 2nd, a heavy dust storm hit N.E. China and parts of Mongolia. and ended over North Korea and South Korea in the 4th [2]
21 people had died in a rural Mongolian blizzard on May 8th 2008.[3] parts of the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia were also affected on the 8th of May 2008.
On June 2 2009, it was said that 15 people and 10,000 head of cattle had died by this date in Mongolia.
April 1st and 2nd, 2010 had temperatures plummet to -50 degrees in Mongolia’s Tuul valley, The nomad Urna said she bought 400 bundles of grass and tons of animal to help in any more bad weather. The Mongolian Red Cross have said that about 4,500,000 livestock died as a result of the bad weather this year.[4][5] Tume, who lives in Ulan Bator said that he had noticed that there were several really harsh winters in a row too. He blamed climate change, but experts said that overgrazing by cattle had also killed of most of the country’s grassland.[6]
[change] Swine flu
Mongolia is currently free of bird and swine flu, but 103 air travelers who were suspected victims, and the plane crew of 6, were quarantined for 7 days in Ulaan Bator(Ulaanbaatar) in May 2009.[7]
It may have come over the border from the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia.[8][dead link]
[change] National Holidays
| Date | Holiday |
|---|---|
| 1st January | New year |
| January Or February | Old new year (Tsagaan sar) |
| 8th March | International Woman's Day |
| 1st June | Children's day |
| 11-12th July | Naadam Holiday |
| 26th November | Independence day |
[change] Other websites
- Mongolia's UK embassy- [8].
- Mongolia’s American/USA embassy- [9].
- MIAT (Mongolian airways)- [10]. Safety concerns exist about some of the older and less reliable aircraft in its domestic fleet.
- CIA World Factbook information about Mongolia
- Mongolian Open Government (by Mongolia's Prime Minister) (in Mongolian and English) (uses, but does not need Macromedia Flash)
- Mongolian Red Cross Society- Mongolian Red Cross Society Profile
- Mongolian Red Cross Society- Official Red Cross Web Site
[change] Sources
|
||||||||
