Facts about the Land of the Great Khaans

Geography
Mongolia is situated in the heart of Central Asia and borders with the Russian Federation to the north and north west and with China to the south, south west and east.

Mongolia is also one of the highest countries in the world, with an average elevation of 1580 m above sea level.

Conservationists divide Mongolia into six zones:

• Desert
• Desert Steppe
• Mountain
• Mountain Forest Steppe
• Steppe
• Taiga

The southern third of Mongolia is dominated by the Gobi Desert. Although barren looking, it has sufficient grass to support scattered herds of sheep, goats and camels. Most of the Gobi is not sandy, nor full of sand dunes. Much of the rest of Mongolia is covered by grassland, home to Mongolia's famed horses which Chinggis Khaan used so successfully in his wars of conquest.

Mongolia is divided into 18 provinces (aimag) - plus four independent municipalities, which are also sometimes called aimags. These are Ulaan Baatar, Darkhan-Uul (which contains Darkhan city), Orkhon (with Erdenet city) and Gov-Sumber (with the Free Trade Zone town of Choir). The aimags are further divided into a total of 298 districts (sum).

Mountain ranges
In the far west are Mongolia's highest mountains, the Mongol Altai Nuruu, which are permanently snowcapped. The highest peak, Tavanbogd Uul (4374 m), has a magnificent glacier towering over Mongolia, Russia and China. Between the peaks are stark deserts where rain almost never falls. It's an incredibly beautiful, rocky landscape with a few scattered forests in some of the better-watered valleys.
Es ist eine unglaublich schöne Felsenlandschaft. In den etwas regenreicheren Tälern haben sich einige Bäume ihren Lebensraum geschaffen.

Just to the north-east of Ulaan Baatar is the Khentii Nuruu, the highest mountain range in eastern Mongolia and by far the most accessible to hikers. It's a heavily forested region with raging rivers and impressive peaks, the highest being Asralt Khairkhan Uul (2800 m).

Waters
Near the centre of Mongolia is the Khangai Nuruu range, with its highest peak (Otgon Tenger Uul) reaching 3905 m. On the north slope of these mountains is the source of the Selenge Gol, Mongolia's largest river, which flows northward into Lake Baikal in Siberia. While the Selenge Gol is the largest in terms of water volume, the longest river is the Kherlen Gol in eastern Mongolia.

Mongolia has numerous saltwater and freshwater lakes which are great for camping, watching birdlife, hiking, swimming and fishing. The most popular is the magnificent Hovsgol Lake, which contains up to 2% of the world's fresh water. The largest is the low-lying, saltwater Uvs Nuur.

Other geological and geographical features include
Underwater and above-ground caves, some with ancient rock paintings; dormant volcanoes; hot and cold mineral springs; the Great Lakes depression in western Mongolia and the Darkhadyn Khotgor depression west of Hovsgol Nuur; and the Orkhon Khurkhree waterfalls.

Population
Mongolia is a huge, landlocked country: 1,566,500 sq km in area - about forty times the size of Switzerland; three times the size of France; more than four times the UK; and over twice the size of Texas, USA.

Apart from the period of Mongol conquest under Chinggis Khaan and Kublai Khaan, Mongolia was until the 20th century about twice its present size. A large chunk of Siberia was once part of Mongolia but is now securely controlled by Russia, and Inner Mongolia is now firmly part of China.

In 1918, when the population was 648,100 and the density was 0.41 person per sq km, Mongolia faced a precarious future. The population has increased to about 2.3 million, but this still only represents 1.5 persons per sq km.

Nowadays, with just over 2.3 million inhabitants, Mongolia is one of the low density populated countries in the world.

The Tsaatan people
About 50 km west of Hovsgol Lake is a large depression called Darkhadyn Khotgor, often referred to as Tsagaannuur, White Lake, named after the main village in the area.

This is one of the best-watered regions in Mongolia; there are about 300 lakes, over 200 of them in this area alone.

The unique Tsaatan people, named from the Mongolian word for reindeer, tsaa, inhabit the valleys. They are extremely nomadic and live a very traditional life-style, often moving their small encampments (called ail) every two or three weeks while looking for special types of grass and moss loved by the reindeer.

The Tsaatan do not use gers, preferring tents made from reindeer skin. Their entire existence is based on the reindeer, which provides milk, skins for clothes, transport and, occasionally, meat. Tsaatan people are part of a Tuvan ethnic group which inhabits nearby Russia, and they speak a Turkic language, different to Mongolian. There are only about 200 Tsaatan, spread over 100,000 sq km of northern Mongolia.

Ulaan Baatar
Mongolia's largest city with over one quarter of its population is situated at 1350 m above sea level. Ulaan Baatar is also the transport and industrial centre of the country. Mongolia's capital city still has the look and feel of a neglected European city from the 1950s.

Built along the Tuul river and surrounded by lovely mountains, the centre of Ulaan Baatar is dominated by Soviet-style high-raise apartment blocks, but about 250,000 locals live in the extended ger suburbs in the outskirts of town.

Despite being the national capital and Mongolia's largest city, Ulaan Baatar retains a relaxed, small-town atmosphere and is a very pleasant place to visit. The city boasts good monasteries and museums.

Government and Politics
In 1990, the Mongolians finally had the opportunity to participate in their first free elections, and voted against the established socialist one-party-system in order to create a free market economy. Therefore, in 1992, the title "People's Republic" has been officially removed from the country's name. Nowadays, Mongolia is a democratically ruled republic, and elections take place every four years. This change obviously takes some time to get fully achieved, and a lot of elements still remind the visitor to the socialist era.

Language
The official national language is Mongolian, a member of the Ural-Altaic family of languages, which includes Finnish, Turkish, Kazak, Uzbek and Korean. Russian used to be the most frequent foreign language. It is now more and more replaced by English and Japanese.

Religion
Mongolians have always taken Buddhism of the Tibetan (Lamaist) variety wholeheartedly. Their minds where tamed by Tibetan lamas (monks) when the Mongolian empire was at its height and warriors were coming to grips with the complexities of controlling and multicultural empire.

When the revolution of 1921 brought the communists to power, an uneasy peace existed between Mongolia's monasteries and the government. The communists realised that they were not strong enough to take on the revered religious establishment, which in 1921 numbered one-third of the male population, who lived in about 700 monasteries.

In 1924, when the eighth Jebtzun Damba died, the communist government prevented a successor from being found.

Except at Gandan monastery in Ulaan Baatar - which was kept as a showcase temple to impress foreigners - all religious worship and ceremonies remained outlawed until 1990. It was then that the democracy movement took hold and freedom of religion was restored. In the past few years, there has been a phenomenal revival of Buddhism.

Whether shamanism is actually a religion is open to debate, but it is practiced by some Mongolians, mainly the Tsaatan, Darkhad, Uriankhai and Buryat in northern Mongolia.

Naadam-Festival
The Naadam Festival showcases Mongolia's finest in the three "manly sports" of horse racing, archery and wrestling (though females participate in the first two). The festival is the biggest event of the year for nomads and their horses and is held all over the country, normally on 11 and 12 July (the anniversary of the 1921 Mongolian Revolution). Apart of the major festival in Ulaan Baatar, local Naadam celebrations are hold in the countryside.

There are no tracks or courses for the horse races; it is just open countryside. Jockeys - boys and girls aged between 5 and 13 years old - prepare for months for special races, particularly at Naadam. The winner is declared "leader of ten thousand".