Mongolia (country)

I

Introduction

Mongolia (country), country in East Asia, landlocked between Russia and China. The country’s capital and largest city is Ulaanbaatar (Ulan Bator), located in the heartland of Mongol civilization. For thousands of years Mongolia has been the homeland of ethnic Mongols, who make up 90 percent of the country’s people today. Mongols are traditionally nomadic animal herders, with complete freedom of movement, and many continue this way of life on the steppe, a swath of rolling grasslands extending across the country. Mongolia is a sparsely populated country, and domesticated animals outnumber people. Wild horses and many other animals also roam free on the steppe.

In the 13th century the Mongols were first united under Genghis Khan, who founded the largest land empire in history, the Mongol Empire. After the empire fell apart, Mongolia became a province of China known as Outer Mongolia. In 1924 a communist-led revolution won the independence of Outer Mongolia as the Mongolian People’s Republic. It maintained close ties with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Its name officially changed to Mongolia in 1992, after one-party communist rule was abolished.

II

Land and Resources

Mongolia is bounded on the north by Russia and on the east, south, and west by China. The country has a total area of 1,566,500 sq km (604,830 sq mi), or about three times the size of France. Most of the country is a high plateau ranging from 900 to 1,500 m (3,000 to 5,000 ft) in elevation. Rocky desert and grassy semiarid steppe cover most of the land. Forests, which are limited to the mountainous areas, cover about 7 percent of the land.

The mountainous northern and western areas are seismically active zones, with frequent strong earthquakes and many hot springs. The country’s highest peak, Tavan Bogd Uul (4,373 m/14,347 ft), rises in the west where the borders of Mongolia, Russia, and China meet. It is one of many permanently snow-capped peaks in the Altay Mountains, which extend across western Mongolia in two spurs, the Mongolian Altay and the Gobi Altay. In the southwest, the Gobi Altay taper off into the Gobi desert, which occupies the southern third of the country. The Gobi forms the coldest and farthest north of the world’s deserts. Ancient fossils show that it was once part of a large inland sea basin. The Gobi’s northern half lies in Mongolia, while its southern half lies in China. The desert includes rocky low-lying mountains, basalt-column formations, rolling sand dunes, and barren flat expanses.

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Central and northern Mongolia is a land of forested mountains and fertile river valleys. Dominating the central area are the Hangayn (Khangai) Mountains, with peaks rising to more than 3,700 m (more than 12,000 ft). To the northeast are the Hentiyn (Khentei) Mountains, with peaks generally between 1,850 and 2,400 m (between 6,000 and 8,000 ft). These ranges are geologically older and more eroded than the higher Altay ranges. They surround the fertile agricultural area of the Selenge River basin, the cradle of Mongol civilization. Ulaanbaatar, the capital, lies on the Tuul River at the southwestern foot of the Hentiyn Mountains. Eastern Mongolia is a high plateau with steppes extending to the frontier with China, where the plateau meets the enormous faulted scarps of the Greater Khingan Range.

A

Rivers and Lakes

Large rivers originate in the country’s mountainous northern and western areas, while very few surface streams are found in the south. The rivers of Mongolia generally flow in three directions: north toward the Arctic Ocean, east toward the Pacific Ocean, or south into the Gobi desert. In the north, the Selenge River and its main tributary, the Orhon River, form the country’s major river system. These rivers join near the country’s northern border with Russia, where they empty into Lake Baikal, the world’s largest freshwater lake in water volume.

Another important river is the Kerulen (Hereleng), which flows across northeastern Mongolia and into China, where it empties into Hulun Lake. The few streams of southern and southwestern Mongolia run into salt lakes or disappear in the arid, rocky soils of the Gobi. Water runs underground in the Gobi and can be obtained from wells.

In the northwest, a great basin east of the Altay Mountains contains more than 300 lakes. Here lies the saltwater Lake Uvs, which ranks as the country’s largest lake in surface area (about 3,300 sq km/1,300 sq mi). It is a strictly protected conservation area, with many rare animal and plant species.

Hövsgöl Lake, a deep alpine lake nestled in the northern mountains, is the country’s largest in terms of water volume. It ranks as the second largest freshwater lake in Asia, after Lake Baikal, and contains 2 percent of the world’s fresh water. Its surface area is about 2,760 sq km (about 1,070 sq mi). Dozens of rivers feed the lake, but only one flows from it, the Egiyn Gol, a tributary of the Selenge. Through these rivers, Hövsgöl Lake is connected to Lake Baikal.

B

Plant and Animal Life

Mongolia possesses a great diversity of plant and animal life. Ecologically, Mongolia occupies an important transition zone in Asia. Siberian taiga forest, glacier-covered mountains, Central Asian steppe, and windswept desert all meet in Mongolia. Largely undisturbed by humans, these ecological areas provide habitat for wild plants and animals that are increasingly rare in other parts of Asia. Mongolia is internationally recognized as an important habitat for many threatened or endangered species, including the wild horse, saiga (horned antelope), argali (wild mountain sheep), wild camel, Gobi bear, wild ass, snow leopard, and white-naped crane.

Mongolia has five main vegetation zones: taiga forest, mountain forest steppe, steppe, desert steppe (semidesert), and desert. These zones generally follow the climatic pattern, forming belts of vegetation by altitude (from mountains to plains) and latitude (from north to south).

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