Mongolia

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Mongolia (Mongolian: Монгол улс) is the world's second-largest landlocked country after Kazakhstan. It is typically classified as being a part of East Asia, although sometimes it is considered part of Central Asia, and the northern rim of historical Mongolia extends into North Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. Mongolia's political system is parliamentary democracy. Its capital and largest city is Ulaanbaatar.

Mongolia was the center of the Mongol Empire in the thirteenth century and was later ruled by the Manchu Qing Dynasty from the end of the seventeenth century until 1911, when an independent government was formed with Russian assistance. The Mongolian People's Republic was proclaimed in 1924, leading to the adoption of communist policies and a close alignment to the Soviet Union. After the fall of communism in Mongolia in 1990, Mongolia adopted a new, democratic constitution which was ratified in 1992. This officially marked the transition of Mongolia to a democratic country, making it one of the world's youngest democracies.

At 1,564,116 square kilometres, Mongolia is the nineteenth largest country in the world, but also the least densely populated. The country contains very little arable land as much of its area is covered by arid and unproductive steppes with mountains to the north and west and the Gobi Desert to the south. Approximately thirty percent of the country's 2.8 million people are nomadic or semi-nomadic. The predominant religion in Mongolia is Tibetan Buddhism, and the majority of the state's citizens are of the Mongol ethnicity, though Buriats, Kazakhs and Tuvans also live in the country, especially in the west. About one-third of the population lives in Ulaanbaatar.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Early history 1.2 Mongol Empire 1.3 Chinese domination 1.4 Independence 1.5 Alignment with the Soviet Union 1.6 1990 Democratic Revolution 2 Government and politics 2.1 President 2.2 The State Great Hural 2.3 Prime Minister and the Cabinet 3 Foreign relations and military 4 Geography and climate 5 Administrative divisions 6 Economy 6.1 Industrial sector 6.2 Science and technology 6.3 Service sector 7 Demographics 7.1 Languages 7.2 Religion 7.3 Education 7.4 Health 8 Culture 8.1 Sports and recreation 9 Architecture 10 See also 11 References and notes 12 External links

History

Main article: History of Mongolia

A large number of ethnicities have inhabited Mongolia since prehistoric times. Most of these people were nomads who, from time to time, formed great confederations that rose to prominence. The first of these, the Xiongnu, were brought together to form a confederation by Modu Shanyu in 209 B.C. They defeated the Donghu, who had previously been the dominant power in eastern Mongolia. The Xiongnu became the greatest threat to China for the following three centuries; the Great Wall of China was built partly as defence against the Xiongnu. Marshal Meng Tian of the Qin Empire dispersed more than 300,000 soldiers along the Great Wall to prevent an expected invasion from the North. It is believed that after their decisive defeat by the Chinese in 428-431, some of the Xiongnu migrated West to become the Huns. After the Xiongnu migrated west, Rouran, a close relative of the Mongols, came to power before being defeated by the Göktürks, who then dominated Mongolia for centuries.

Early history

During the seventh and eighth centuries, Mongolia was controlled by Göktürks, who were succeeded by the ancestors of today's Uigur and then by the Khitan and Jurchen. By the tenth century, the country was populated predominantly by Mongols believed to be a branch of the Xianbei. During this period the country was divided into numerous tribes linked through transient alliances.

Mongol Empire

Main article: Mongol Empire

In the late twelfth century, a chieftain named Temujin united the Mongol tribes to the Naiman and Jurchen after a long struggle and he took the name of Chinggis Khan more known as Genghis Khan. The altered form Genghis is said to have been made by the conquered people of the Middle-East. Starting in 1206, Genghis Khan and his successors consolidated and expanded the Mongol Empire into the largest contiguous land empire in world history, going as far northwest as Kievan Rus.^{[citation needed]}

After Genghis Khan's death, the empire was divided into four kingdoms, or "Khanates". One of these, the "Great Khanate," comprised the Mongol homeland and China, and its emperors were known as the Yuan Dynasty. Its founder, Kublai Khan, set up his centre in present day Beijing. After more than a century of power, the Yuan Dynasty was replaced by the Ming Dynasty in 1368, and the Mongol court fled north. The Ming armies pursued and defeated them in Mongolia, but did not conquer Mongolia.

During the next several centuries, Mongolia was split between the Oirad in the west and the Khalkha in the east. Altan Khan united the Mongols briefly in 1571. After failing to defeat the Chinese, he made peace with the Ming Dynasty and instead focused on Tibet, eventually becoming a convert to Tibetan Buddhism.

Chinese domination

During the seventeenth century, the Manchus rose to prominence in the east, they conquered Inner Mongolia in 1636. Outer Mongolia submitted in 1691. For the next two hundred years Mongolia was united with the Qing Dynasty. During this time, the Manchus maintained their peace with Mongolia with a series of alliances and intermarriages, as well as military and economic peace. Several Emperors of the Qing Dynasty were born to Mongol mothers.

Independence

With the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Mongolia declared independence in 1911. The new country's territory was approximately that of the former Outer Mongolia. After the October Revolution in Russia, Chinese troops led by Xu Shuzheng occupied the capital in 1919. The Chinese dominance did not last: notorious Russian adventurer "bloody" Baron Ungern who had fought with the "Whites" (Ataman Semyonov) against the Red army in Siberia, led his troops into Mongolia and forced a showdown with the Chinese in the City of the Red Hero. Ungern's forces triumphed, and he briefly in effect ruled Mongolia under the blessing of religious leader Bogda Khan. But Ungern's triumph was shortlived; he was chased out by the Red Army, which, while at it, liberated Mongolia from feudalism and insured its political alignment with the Russian Bolsheviks. In 1924, after the death of the religious leader and king Bogd Khan, the Mongolian People's Republic was proclaimed and was backed by the Soviets.

Alignment with the Soviet Union

Main article: People's Republic of Mongolia

The Mongolian People's Republic was aligned closely with the Soviet Union. During the 1920s and 1930s, several high-ranking politicians who demanded a more independent course, like Dogsomyn Bodoo or Horloogiyn Dandzan, fell victim to violent power struggles and were killed. In 1928, Horloogiyn Choybalsan rose to power. Under his administration, forced collectivisation of livestock was instituted, and the destruction of Buddhist monasteries in 1937 left more than 10,000 lamas dead.

During the Soviet-Japanese Border War of 1939, the USSR defended Mongolia against Japan. Mongolian forces also took part in the Soviet offensive against Japanese forces in Inner Mongolia in August 1945 (see Operation August Storm). The (Soviet) threat of Mongolian forces seizing parts of Inner Mongolia induced the Republic of China to recognize Outer Mongolia's independence, provided that a referendum was held. The referendum took place on October 20, 1945, with (according to official numbers) 100% of the electorate voting for independence. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, both countries re-recognized each other on October 6, 1949.

After Choybalsan died in Moscow on January 26, 1952, Yumjaagiyn Tsedenbal took power. In 1956 and again in 1962, Choybalsan's personality cult was condemned. Mongolia continued to align itself closely with the Soviet Union, especially after the Sino-Soviet split of the late 1950s. While Tsedenbal was visiting Moscow in August 1984, his severe illness prompted the parliament to announce his retirement and replace him with Jambyn Batmonh.

1990 Democratic Revolution

The introduction of perestroika and glasnost in the USSR by Mikhail Gorbachev strongly influenced Mongolian politics even though Mongolia was a sovereign nation. The collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, combined with these two policies, were enough to lead to a peaceful democratic revolution in Mongolia in 1990. This, in turn, allowed Mongolia to begin engaging in economic and diplomatic relations with the Western world. The nation finished its transition from a communist state to a multi-party capitalist democracy with the ratification of a new constitution in 1992.

Government and politics

Main article: Politics of Mongolia

Until June 27, 2004, the predominant party in Mongolia was the social democratic Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, or MPRP (ex-Communist Party). The main opposition party was the Democratic Party or DP, which controlled a governing coalition from 1996 to 2000.

From 2000 to 2004, the MPRP was back in power, but results of the 2004 elections required the establishing of the first ever coalition government in Mongolia between the MPRP and MDC (Motherland Democratic Coalition). The coalition broke down in January 2006, the current government has been formed with the MPRP, some small parties and some DP defectors.

President

Main article: President of Mongolia

Mongolia's president has a symbolic role, but can block the parliament's decisions, who can then overrule the veto by a 2/3 majority. Mongolia's Constitution provides three requirements for taking office as President: the individual must be a native-born Mongolian, be at least 45 years of age, and have resided in Mongolia for five years prior to taking office. The current President is Nambaryn Enkhbayar.

The State Great Hural

Main article: State Great Hural

Mongolia uses a unicameral parliamentary system in which the president has a symbolic role and the government chosen by the legislature exercises executive power. The legislative arm, the State Great Hural, has one chamber with 76 seats and is chaired by the speaker of the house.

Prime Minister and the Cabinet

Main article: Prime Minister of Mongolia

The prime minister is elected by the State Great Hural. The current prime minister is Miyeegombyn Enkhbold, who was elected by fifty-six votes to ten on January 25, 2006. The deputy prime minister is Mendsaikhan Enkhsaikhan (since 28 January 2006).

The cabinet is nominated by the prime minister in consultation with the president, and confirmed by the State Great Hural.

Foreign relations and military

Main article: Military of Mongolia

Mongolia maintains friendly relations with the United States, Russia, Japan, the People's Republic of China, and virtually all countries in the world. It has initiated large foreign investment initiatives and encouraged foreign investment. It supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and has sent around 700-800 troops to Iraq. Also 200 Mongolian troops were sent to Sierra Leone on UN mandate to protect the War tribunal set up there. On November 21, 2005, George W. Bush became the first-ever sitting U.S. President to visit Mongolia.^[1]

Geography and climate

Main article: Geography of Mongolia

At 604,209 mi² (1,565,000 km²[1]), Mongolia is the world's nineteenth-largest country (after Iran). It is significantly larger than the next-largest country, Peru, and is nearly as large as the US state of Alaska.

The Mongolian heartland consists of relatively flat steppes. The southern portion of the country is taken up by the Gobi Desert, while the northern and western portions are mountainous. The highest point in Mongolia is Nayramadlin Orgil (Huyten Orgil) at 4,374 m (14,350 feet). Ubsunur Hollow and Uvs Nuur Lake, shared with Tuva Republic in Russia, is a natural World Heritage Site.

Most of the country is hot in the summer and extremely cold in the winter, with January averages dropping as low as -30ºC (-22ºF). The country is also subject to occasional harsh climatic conditions known as zud or dzud. Ulaanbaatar has the coldest average temperature of any national capital in the world.

Mongolia is high, cold, and windy. It has an extreme continental climate with long, cold winters and short summers, during which most of its annual precipitation falls. The country averages 257 cloudless days a year, and it is usually at the center of a region of high atmospheric pressure. Precipitation is highest in the north (average of 20 to 35 centimeters per year) and lowest in the south, which receives 10 to 20 centimeters annually. The extreme south is the Gobi, some regions of which receive no precipitation at all in most years. The name "Gobi" is a Mongol term for a desert, depression, salt marsh, or steppe, but which usually refers to a category of arid rangeland with insufficient vegetation to support marmots but with enough to support camels. Mongols distinguish Gobi from desert proper, although the distinction is not always apparent to outsiders unfamiliar with the Mongolian landscape. Gobi rangelands are fragile and are easily destroyed by overgrazing, which results in expansion of the true desert, a stony waste where not even Bactrian camels can survive.

Administrative divisions

Main articles: Aimags of Mongolia and Sums of Mongolia

Mongolia is divided into twenty-one Aimags (provinces):

Arkhangai Bayan-Ölgii Bayankhongor Bulgan Darkhan-Uul Dornod Dornogovi Dundgovi Govi-Altai Govisümber Khentii

Khovd Khövsgöl Ömnögovi Orkhon Övörkhangai Selenge Sükhbaatar Töv Uvs Zavkhan

The aimags are further divided into 315 sums ("districts"). The capital Ulan Bator is administrated seperately as a municipality (khot) with provincial status

Economy

Main article: Economy of Mongolia

Mongolia's economy is centered on agriculture and mining. Mongolia has rich mineral resources, and copper, coal, molybdenum, tin, tungsten, and gold account for a large part of industrial production.

There are currently over 30,000 independent businesses in Mongolia, chiefly centered around the capital city^{[citation needed]}. The majority of the population outside urban areas participate in subsistence herding; livestock typically consists of sheep, goats, cattle, horses, and Bactrian camels. Agricultural crops include wheat, barley, vegetables, and other forage crops.

GDP per capita in 2005 was $1,900 [2]. Although GDP has risen steadily since 2002 at the rate of 6.2% in an official 2005 estimate, the state is still working to overcome a sizable trade deficit. A massive ($11 billion) foreign debt to Russia was settled by the Mongolian government in 2004 with a $250 million payment. Despite growth, the proportion of the population below the poverty line is estimated to be 36.1% in 2004, and both the unemployment rate and inflation rate are high at 6.7% and 10.9%, respectively [3].

Mongolia's largest trading partner is China. As of 2003, 46.6 percent of Mongolia's exports went to China, and China supplied 24.4 percent of Mongolia's imports. [4]

Industrial sector

Industry currently accounts for 21.4% of GDP, approximately equal to the weight of the agriculture sector (20.4%). These industries include construction materials, mining (coal, copper, molybdenum, fluorspar, tin, tungsten, and gold), oil, food and beverages, processing of animal products, and cashmere and natural fiber manufacturing. The industrial production growth rate is estimated to be 4.1% in 2002. Mining is continuing to rise as a major industry of Mongolia. [5]

Science and technology

Mongolia has increasingly started to develop its technology industry since the democratic revolution of the early 1990s, and many new technology companies have been founded. Also, some technology companies in nearby countries, such as South Korea and the People's Republic of China, have started to open offices in Mongolia.

Service sector

After the democratic revolution of the early 1990s, Mongolian domestic production has picked up providing basic food production to its residents through increasing competition among companies. According to the CIA World Factbook, in 2003, the service sector accounted for 58% of the GDP, with 29% of the labor force of 1.488 million involved.

However, investment from Korea and other countries (including China, Japan, Germany and Russia) have helped to add more paved roads. Of which the most important is an 1000 km north-south road leading from the Russian border at Sühbaatar to the Chinese border at Zamyn-Üüd. The air transport company of Mongolia is MIAT.

Petroleum products are to a large part (80%) imported from Russia, which makes Mongolia vulnerable to supply side shocks. This is one strong example of the influence of Mongolia's neighbors on its economy.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Mongolia

Though the majority of Mongolian citizens are of Mongol descent there are small populations of Kazakh, Tuvan and Tungus peoples. Mongolia's population growth rate is estimated at 1.54% (2000 census). About two-thirds of the total population is under age 30, 36% of whom are under 14. This relatively young and rapidly growing population has, as in many developing countries, placed strains on Mongolia's economy. According to the World Factbook, 50% of Mongolia's population is Buddhist-Lamaist, which is related to Tibetan Buddhism. 40% is listed as having no religion, 6% is Shamanist or Christian, and 4% is Muslim.

Life in sparsely populated Mongolia has become more urbanized. Nearly half of the people live in the capital and in other provincial centers. Seminomadic life still predominates in the countryside where many families stay in villages during the cold winters and live in gers during the summer, though agricultural communities that are settled year-round are becoming more common.

Ethnic Mongols account for about 85% of the population and consist of Khalkha and other groups, all distinguished primarily by dialects of the Mongol language. The Khalkha make up 90% of the ethnic Mongol population. The remaining 10% include Durbet Mongols and others in the north and Dariganga Mongols in the east. Turkic speakers (Kazakhs, Tuvans, and Uyghurs) constitute 7% of Mongolia's population, and the rest are Tungusic speakers, Chinese, and Russians. Most, but not all, Russians left the country following the withdrawal of economic aid and collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Languages

The official language of Mongolia is Khalkha Mongolian, which uses the Cyrillic alphabet, is spoken by 90% of the population. A a variety of different dialects are spoken across the country. In the west the Tuvan and Kazakh languages, among others, are also spoken. In the north, the Russian language is frequently spoken among Russian immigrants. Since the 1990s, the government has worked to encourage the learning of English as a second language replacing the teaching of Russian in schools. Many older educated Mongols speak some German, as they studied in the former East Germany, while a few speak other languages from the former Eastern Bloc.

Mongolian belongs to the Altaic languages, a group of languages named after the Altay Mountains that includes the Turkic, Tungusic, and Mongolic language families.

Religion

Aside from brief periods of Islam and Christianity, various forms of shamanism have been widely practiced throughout the history of what is now modern day Mongolia, as such beliefs were common among nomadic people in Asian history. Such beliefs gradually gave way to Tibetan Buddhism, but shamanism has left a mark on Mongolian religious culture. Indeed, some shamanistic practices and traditions are still practiced in rural areas.

Throughout much of the twentieth century, the communist government ensured that the religious practices of the Mongolian people were largely repressed. Horloogiyn Choybalsan complied with the orders of Joseph Stalin, destroying almost all of Mongolia's over 700 Buddhist monasteries and killing thousands of monks. The fall of communism in 1991 restored the legality of public religious practice, and Tibetan Buddhism, which had been the predominant religion in the region before the rise of Communism, again rose to become the most widely practiced religion in Mongolia. The end of religious repression in the 1990s also allowed for other religions, such as Islam and Christianity, to spread in the country.

Education

During the state socialist period, education was one of the areas of significant achievement in Mongolia. Illiteracy was virtually eliminated, in part through the use of seasonal boarding schools for children of nomadic families. Funding to these boarding schools has been cut in the 1990s, contributing to slightly increased illiteracy.

Primary and secondary education formerly lasted ten years, but has been expanded to eleven years recently and is set to be expanded further to twelve years.

Mongolian national universities are all spin-offs from the National University of Mongolia and Mongolian University of Science and Technology

The broad liberalization of the 1990s led to a boom in private institutions of higher education, although many of these establishments have difficulty living up to their nomer of "college" or "university".

Health

Health care in Mongolia is rapidly improving, leading to a higher life expectancy.

Childbirth is 2.26 per woman. Average life expectancy is 63 years, and the infant mortality rate is at 6%.

The health sector is comprised of 17 specialized hospitals and centers, 4 regional diagnostic and treatment centers, 9 district and 21 aimag general hospitals, 323 soum hospitals, 18 feldsher posts, 233 family group practices, and 536 private hospitals and 57 drug supply companies/pharmacies. In 2002 the total number of health workers was 33273, of which 6823 were doctors, 788 pharmacists, 7802-nurses and 14091 mid-level personnel. At present, there are 27.7 physicians and 75.7 hospital beds per 10.000 population overall.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Mongolia

Mongolia has its own ethnic group, which comprises 85% of the country's population.

The main festival is Naadam, which celebrates the anniversary of Mongolian independence from China. It is held on July 11 to July 13, and consists of three Mongolian traditional sports: archery, horse-racing (over long stretches of open country, not the short racing around a track practiced in the West), and wrestling. Another very popular activity called Shagaa is the "flicking" of sheep ankle bones at a target several feet away, using a flicking motion of the finger to send the small bone flying at targets and trying to knock the target bones off the platform. This contest at Naadam is very popular and develops a serious audience among older Mongolians.

In Mongolia, the khoomii, or throat singing, style of music is popular, particularly in Western Mongolia.

The ornate symbol in the leftmost bar of the national flag is a Buddhist icon called a soyombo. It represents the sun, moon, stars, and heavens per standard cosmologic symbology abstracted from that seen in traditional Tibetan thangka paintings.

Sports and recreation

Mongolia's Naadam festival takes place over three days in the summer and includes horse racing, archery, and Mongolian wrestling. These three sports, traditionally recognized as the three primary masculine activities, are the most widely watched and practiced sports throughout the country.

Horse riding is especially central to Mongolian culture. The long-distance races that are showcased during Naadam festivals are one aspect of this, as is the popularity of trick riding. One example of trick riding is the story that the Mongolian military hero Damdin Sühbaatar scattered coins on the ground and then picked them up while riding a horse at full gallop.

Other sports such as table tennis, basketball, and soccer are increasingly getting popular. More Mongolian table tennis players are competing internationally.

Wrestling is the most popular of all Mongol sports. It is the highlight of the Three Manly Games of Naadam. Historians claim that Mongol-style wrestling originated some seven thousand years ago. Hundreds of wrestlers from different cities and aimags around the country take part in the national wrestling competition.

There are no weight categories or age limits. Each wrestler has his own attendant herald. The aim of the sport is to knock one's opponent off balance and throw him down, making him touch the ground with his elbow and knee.

The winners are honored with ancient titles: the winner of the fifth round gets the honorary title of nachin (falcon), of the seventh and eighth rounds zaan (elephant), and of the tenth and eleventh rounds arslan (lion). The wrestler who becomes the absolute champion is awarded the title of avarga (Titan). Every subsequent victory at the national Naadam-festival will add an epithet to the avarga title, like "Invincible Titan to be remembered by all".

Beginning in 2003, the Mongolian parliament adopted a new law on Naadam, making amendments to some of the wrestling titles. The titles of iarudi and Hartsaga (Hawk) were added to the existing above-mentioned rules.

The traditional wrestling costume includes an open-fronted jacket, tied around the waist with a string. This is said to have come into use after the champion of a wrestling competition many years ago was discovered to be a woman. The jacket was introduced to ensure that only men could compete.

Football is also played in Mongolia. The Mongolia national football team begun playing again in the 1990s; it has yet to qualify for a major tournament. The Mongolia Premier League is the top domestic competition.

Architecture

The traditional Mongolian dwelling is known as a ger (yurt).

See also

• Communications in Mongolia
• Foreign relations of Mongolia
• Military of Mongolia
• Mongolyn Skautyn Kholboo (Mongolian Scouts Association)
• Public holidays in Mongolia
• Transportation in Mongolia
• Greater Mongolia region
• Inner Mongolia
• Agriculture in Mongolia

References and notes

• Mongolia, Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Mongolia CIA World Factbook
• Background notes on Mongolia, US Department of State
• This article contains material from the Library of Congress Country Studies, which are United States government publications in the public domain.

External links

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General

• News and Information Association of Mongolia - www.moninfo.org Online daily news in English and Mongolian
• American Center for Mongolian Studies - www.mongoliacenter.org Promoting research and scholarship in Mongolia
• Open Directory Project - Mongolia
• Flags of the Mongolian aymags
• The UB Post Independent English Weekly News

Official

• Mongolia Open Government from the Office of the Prime Minister
• Mongolia Ministry of Foreign Affairs official site
• Mongolian Tourist Board

Reports and pictures

• Photographical reportages by Michel Setboun
• Collection of annotated photos of Mongolia: people, religion, culture, economy
• Plants of Mongolia
• Birds of Mongolia
• 21 Days In Mongolia Gallery and diary of a backpackers trip to Mongolia
• Mongolia Blog 2006 A blog & photos of an American's experience in Mongolia