Mongolia is in the northern part of Central Asia between the Great Siberian Taiga and the Gobi desert, with China to the south and Russia to the north. Mongolia covers 1,564,116 square km, with the picturesque Tagna, Sayan, Hentii and Yablon Mountain ranges in the northwest, the Great Khyangan Mountain in the east, the majestic Mongolian Altai Mountains in the southwest, and the eternally golden Gobi desert in the south. The Mongolian landscape is a beautiful combination of mountains, steppe, grasslands and desert. It is the 17-th largest country in the world. The average altitude is 1580 meter above the sea level and Ulaanbaatar 1350 meter. The highest point "Huiten" peak reaches 4653 meter.
Mongolia has an extremely continental climate with four well-defined seasons, and on average, the sun shines for well over 200 days a year. Sometimes the temperature climbs to +40C in June, July and August, with rain. The Mongolian spring starts in March, summer comes in June, autumn arrives in September and December is the emphatic onset of winter, when the temperature may fall to –50C in areas. Mongolia is usually at the center of a region of high atmospheric pressure. Precipitation is highest in the north, which averages 200 to 350 millimeters per year, and lowest in the south, which receives 100 to 200 millimeters. The extreme south is the Gobi Desert, some regions of which receive no precipitation at all in most years.
There are said to be over 20 million people of Mongol origin in the world, Though only 3.2 million of them live in the land of their ancestors. In their homeland, many Mongolians still live a traditional nomadic lifestyle, raising livestock and processing the skins and the rich dairy products. Mongolia ranks number 136 in the list of countries by population. The population density in Mongolia is 2 per Km2 The Khalkh, also spelled Khalkha or Halh, The Mongols are quite homogeneous, ethnically. Within Mongolia, Khalkh (or Khalkha) Mongols are the dominant ethnic group of Mongolia at roughly 82% of the total population. As the majority group that controls the ancestral homelands of all Mongol people, the Khalkh people see themselves as the direct ancestors of Genghis Khan, and therefore the true standard bearers of authentic Mongolian culture. . Other Mongolian groups—including Dörvöd (Dörbed), Buryat, Bayad, and Dariganga—account for nearly half of the rest of the population. Much of the remainder consists of Turkic-speaking peoples—mainly Kazakhs, some Tuvans(Mongolian: Uriankhai), and a few Tsaatans (Dhukha)—who live mostly in the western part of the country. There are small numbers of Russians and Chinese, who are found mainly in the towns. The government has given increased attention to respecting and protecting the languages and cultural rights of Kazakhs, Tuvans, and other minorities.
Traces of the first human settlement some 750,000 years ago have been found in a place called Tsagaan Agui, in Bayanlig soum, Bayankhongor aimag. The world remembers most that almost the whole of the so-called civilized world was conquered and made part of the Great Mongol Empire by Chinggis Khan and his descendants. A number of different states have existed in what is now Mongolia and they have left numerous historical and cultural relics. In the 17th century Mongolia fell under the rule of the Manchu kingdom and it was not until 1912 that the country regained sovereignty, with the declaration of the State of Mongolia with the Bogd Khan at its head. In 1921 the socialist system was introduced with the victory of the people’s revolution, and in the early 1990s it became a democratic country.
Mongolia has a long history and a characteristic culture, with a beautiful and unique traditional script, which runs from top to bottom of the page.
The Mongolians have their own systems of animal husbandry and agriculture, developed over centuries. They have strict rules governing daily life and inter-personal relations. They worship the blue sky, pure water, sacred land and their ancestors. The original Mongolian religion is shamanism, though ‘yellow hat’ Buddhism has been the dominant religion since the 15th century.
Mongolia is divided into 21 "aimag" /province/. Aimag are divided into 320 "soums", which are further divided into "bags". An average soum is around 4,900 sq km and has a population of about 2,700. The biggest soum is called Gurvan Tes, in Omnogovi aimag, which is 28,000 sq km. Bulgan soum of Bayan-Olgii aimag has the biggest population, 9,100. The capital is Ulaanbaatar, the centre of production, service, history and culture, with a population over 1 million.
