Mongolia

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Mongolia

Монгол улс
Mongol uls
Monggol ulus.svg
Mongγol ulus
Emblem of Mongolia
Emblem
Anthem: "Монгол улсын төрийн дуулал"
National anthem of Mongolia
Location of Mongolia
Capital
and largest city
Ulaanbaatar
47°55′N 106°53′E / 47.917°N 106.883°E / 47.917; 106.883
Official languagesMongolian
Official script(s)Mongolian Cyrillic
Mongolian script[1]
Ethnic groups
(2010)
95.35% Mongol,
3.86% Kazakh
0.8% others[2]
Demonym(s)Mongol, Mongolian[3]
GovernmentParliamentary republic
• President
Khaltmaagiin Battulga
Erdenebat Jargaltulga
LegislatureState Great Khural
Formation
• Formation of the Xiongnu confederation
209 BC
• Formation of the Mongol Empire
1206
• Independence declared (from Qing Dynasty)
December 29, 1911
Area
• Total
1,564,115.75 km2 (603,908.47 sq mi) (19th)
• Water (%)
0.43
Population
• 2010 census
2,754,685[4]
• Density
1.76/km2 (4.6/sq mi) (236th)
GDP (PPP)2011 estimate
• Total
$12.237 billion[5]
• Per capita
$4,384[5]
GDP (nominal)2011 estimate
• Total
$8.859 billion[5]
• Per capita
$3,174[5]
Gini (2005)33.0[6]
medium
HDI (2011)Increase 0.653[7]
medium · 100th
CurrencyTögrög (MNT)
Time zoneUTC+7 to +8[8][9][10]
Date formatyyyy.mm.dd (CE)
Driving sideright
Calling code976
ISO 3166 codeMN
Internet TLD.mn

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. Mongolia's political system is a parliamentary republic.

Until recently, most of the people there were Buddhists. Many of them are nomads (people who always move from place to place and do not stay in one home), but this is changing. The largest city, and capital city is Ulaanbaatar. It is where about 38% of the population live. This has been spelled Ulan Bator/ Ulaan Battor and other ways in the past. The north and east parts of the country have many mountains. Part of the south part is the Gobi Desert. There are 2,791,272 people living in Mongolia. The country is the 18th biggest country in the world, with an area of 1,564,116 km2 (603,909 sq mi).

Mongolia is mainly rural with the lowest population density of all independent countries in the world.[11][12][13][note 1]

History[change | change source]

The area which is Mongolia has been ruled by various nomadic empires. This was until the great 'Mongol Empire' was founded by Genghis Khan in 1206. After the Yuan Dynasty collapsed, the Mongols became nomads again. After the 16th century, Mongolia were influenced by Tibetan Buddhism. By the end of the 17th century, most of Mongolia was part of an area ruled by the Qing Dynasty. When the Qing Dynasty collapsed in 1911, Mongolia declared independence. But they had to fight against the Chinese. They were helped by the Soviet Union. In 1921, the world accepted its independence. Shortly after the death of Bogd Khaan, the last monarch of Mongolia the monarchy was replaced by a communist government in 1924, and the country was renamed the Mongolian People's Republic. Up until the fall of the Soviet Union, Mongolia was a satellite state for the Soviets. The Mongolian Red Cross Society was set up in 1939. It has its headquarters in Ulaanbaator. Following the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia's interest in Mongolia has declined. China and South Korea are currently Mongolia's main trade and political partners.

Government[change | change source]

Mongolia is a parliamentary republic. People vote for their government. The President of Mongolia is elected to a four-year term, and cannot be elected President more than twice. The current President is Khaltmaagiin Battulga. He was first elected as President on July 7, 2017.

Climate[change | change source]

A NASA satellite photo of Mongolia

Mongolia has a steppe climate. It has very cold winters and mild summers. Recently, winters have become very cold. This has killed many people and cattle. On June 2nd, 2008, 52 people and 200,000 head of cattle died in heavy blizzards in Mongolia.[14]

On March 1–2, 2008, a heavy dust storm hit northeast China and parts of Mongolia. and ended over North Korea and South Korea on the March 4 .[15]

Twenty one people died in a rural Mongolian blizzard on May 8, 2008.[16] Parts of the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia were also affected on the May 8, 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 1–2, 2010 had temperatures plummet to -50 degrees in Mongolia’s Tuul valley, A nomad named Urna said she bought 400 bundles of grass to feed the animals in preparation for more bad weather. The Mongolian Red Cross has said that about 4,500,000 livestock died as a result of the bad weather this year [2010].[17][18] 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 off most of the country’s grassland.[18]

Mongolia known as the "Land of the Eternal Blue Sky" or "Country of Blue Sky" (Mongolian: Mönkh khökh tengeriin oron - Мөнх хөх тэнгэрийн орон) because it has over 250 sunny days a year.[19][20][21][22]

Geography[change | change source]

Mongolia is the world's 19th-largest country (after Iran). It is significantly larger than the next-largest country, Peru. Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan but its westernmost point is only 38 kilometers (24 mi) away from Kazakhstan.

The geography of Mongolia is varied, with the Gobi Desert to the south and with cold and mountainous regions to the north and west. Most of Mongolia consists of steppes, with forested areas comprising 11.2% of the total land area.[23]  The highest point in Mongolia is the Khüiten Peak in the Tavan bogd massif, at a height of 4,374 m (14,350 ft).

Provinces[change | change source]

Mongolia is divided into 21 provinces called aimags. The aimags are divided into 329 districts called sums.[24]

Languages[change | change source]

The official language of Mongolia is Mongolian, and is spoken by 95% of the population. A variety of dialects of Oirat and Buryatare are spoken across the country. Turkic languages, such as Kazakh and Tuvan, are also spoken in the western part of the country.  

Today, Mongolian is written using the Cyrillic alphabet, although in the past it was written using the Mongolian script. The traditional alphabet is being slowly reintroduced through schools recently.[25]

Russian is the most frequently spoken foreign language in Mongolia due to their diplomatic ties as former communist states. However English has been gradually replacing Russian as the second language in order to become part of the world economy. Korean has gained popularity as tens of thousands of Mongolians work and study in South Korea. Interest in Chinese has been growing because of the neighboring power.

Swine flu[change | change source]

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.

It may have come over the border from the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia.

National Holidays[change | change source]

Date Holiday
January 1 New Year
January Or February Old new year (Tsagaan sar)
March 8 International Woman's Day
June 1 Children's day
July 11-12 Naadam Holiday
November 26 Independence day

Related pages[change | change source]

Sources[change | change source]

References[change | change source]

  1. ↑ "Official Documents to be in Mongolian Script" (in Chinese). UB Post. 2011-06-21. Retrieved 2010-07-11. Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ↑ Mongolia National Census 2010 Provision Results. National Statistical Office of Mongolia (in Mongolian.)
  3. ↑ "Mongolian" is included minorities like Kazakhs or Tuvans.
  4. ↑ Date: (2011-06-13). "Momgolia National Census 2010 Preliminary Results" (PDF). National Statistical Office of Mongolia. Retrieved 2011-06-14.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "Mongolia". International Monetary Fund. Retrieved 2011-04-21.
  6. ↑ "Gini Index". World Bank. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  7. ↑ "Human Development Report 2011" (PDF). United Nations. 2011. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  8. ↑ "Mongolia Standard Time is GMT (UTC) +8, some areas of Mongolia use GMT (UTC) + 7". Time Temperature.com. Retrieved 2007-09-30. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ↑ "The Mongolian government has chosen not to move to Summer Time". World Time Zone.com. Retrieved 2007-09-30. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ↑ "Mongolian Time Zones". Retrieved 2011-05-20.
  11. ↑ Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division. "World Population Prospects, Table A.1" (.PDF). 2008 revision. United Nations. Retrieved on 12 March 2009.
  12. ↑ "Population density (people per km2 of land area)". The World Bank. Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  13. ↑ "Population of all countries from largest to smallest". World Atlas. Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  14. ↑ http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/351407/1/.html
  15. ↑ "Dust Storm over East Asia". earthobservatory.nasa.gov. 4 March 2008.
  16. ↑ "Snowstorm kills 21 in Mongolia". Thaindian News.
  17. ↑ http://search.9news.com/sp?aff=1100&keywords=mongolian+storm
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "Coldest Mongolian winter in decades - DW - 02.04.2010". DW.COM.
  19. ↑ "Mongolia Climate - Retrieve the average temperatures and rains in Mongolia & in Ulaan baatar". www.e-mongol.com.
  20. ↑ "Country Nicknames: Top 40 best nation aliases". 31 May 2013.
  21. ↑ Leonov, Tatyana. "Nomadic trails in the land of the blue sky". www.bbc.com.
  22. ↑ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/07/0719_040719_weepingcamel_2.html
  23. ↑ "3. MONGOLIAN FORESTRY SECTOR". www.fao.org.
  24. ↑ Montsame News Agency. Mongolia. 2006, Foreign Service office of Montsame News Agency, ISBN 99929-0-627-8, p. 46
  25. ↑ Staff, Guardian (27 October 2006). "Mongolia: Essential information" – via www.theguardian.com.

General sources[change | change source]

Notes[change | change source]

  1. ↑ The United Nations source does not order the countries according to their population densities, but mentions the population count and the area of the countries. In the World Atlas reference, sorting the countries by Population Density (km2.) shows that Mongolia is the least densely populated. The World Bank source might appear to contradict this fact, but Greenland is not an independent country; therefore, it is not considered in this case.

Other websites[change | change source]

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