MONGOLIA

Located in the frontier zone of East Asia between northwestern China and Siberia, the State of Mongolia (formerly Outer Mongolia) has an area of 604,800 square miles (1,566,500 square kilometers), and its capital is Ulaanbaatar (see Ulaanbaatar). The Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region has been part of China since 1949. The traditional Mongol heartland was focused on the Gobi, a great elevated, arid plateau located along the Chinese-Mongolian border. (See also Inner Mongolia.)
Mongolia is a high and dry interior region characterized by internal drainage. Several major landform regions can be identified: mountains in the north and west; a basin region in the northwest; and a large, arid plateau the Gobi composed of steppe and desert in the south and southeast (see Gobi).
Mountains dominate northern, central, and western Mongolia, and these peak at more than 12,000 feet (3,600 meters). Generally, the mountains trend along a northwest-southeast axis. The major mountain system is the eastward extension of the Central Asian Altai Range. A volcanic zone exists along Mongolia's northern boundary with Russia. Most of the rivers and streams disappear into salt lakes, marshes, or desert sand, though a few major streams and rivers in the north flow into Siberia and empty eventually into Lake Baikal. A varied and interesting animal and bird life inhabit the many lake areas, especially those in the northwest.
Mongolia's climate is continental. Winters are long, cold, and dry. Summers are hot, though the heat is tempered by occasional precipitation. Precipitation varies by location and ranges from as little as 2 inches (5 centimeters) a year in places within the Gobi to as much as 20 inches (50 centimeters) in the northern and central mountains. There is great fluctuation in temperature on a seasonal as well as daily basis.
Plants and animals of the country reflect the extreme climatic conditions. In the northern and western mountains are found forests of such northern deciduous and coniferous trees as birch, aspen, poplar, larch, cedar, spruce, and pine. Grasses are common in the steppe zone and plain, and these give way to desert plants or little vegetation in the Gobi. Such wild animals as lynx, bear, musk and red deer, and snow leopard abound in the northern mountains. Marmots and gazelles are common in the steppe, and wild horses, donkeys, and camels are found in the steppe and near-desert zones.

People

There are roughly 5.5 million Mongols. About 3.5 million of them live mainly in Chinese Inner Mongolia, and most of the remaining 2 million are in the State of Mongolia. A small number are found in Russia and other regions of China and Central Asia. Physically most Mongolians are stocky and of medium height with brown skin and dark hair. The epicanthic, or angled, eyefold is common. As their name suggests, they belong racially to the broad grouping called Asiatic, or Mongoloid.
Mongols trace their origin to clan and tribal groups in Central and Northeastern Asia, and they have ties to Manchus in northeastern China as well as Hsuing-nu (Huns) and Turkic-speaking people who inhabit Central Asia west of Mongolia. Most Mongols speak a common language Khalkha and dialects among different groups are usually mutually intelligible. Their traditional affiliation and unity derive from their common language, their alliance along clan and tribal lines, and their long-standing way of life as pastoral nomads.
Prior to the establishment of modern Mongolia, conditions of pastoral living were harsh. Most people were extremely poor, and what little wealth existed was concentrated in the hands of a few religious and secular feudal overlords who controlled the country. The state was theocratically ruled similarly to Tibet, from which it received its religious influences.
Disease and early death were common, and the death rate among children was especially high. There were few physicians and medical personnel. This situation began to change after the formation of the present socialist state, and the death rate dropped sharply. The population grew rapidly as better health care was provided, many diseases controlled, and a more reliable food supply made available.

Economy and Way of Life

For many generations Mongols have engaged in herding as a means of using the resources of their marginal, arid environment. On the broad steppe grasslands and plains, they developed extensive herds of sheep, goats, camels, horses, and cattle. Today there are roughly 15 domestic animals for each person. The characteristic seasonal migration of these herders long formed their main activity patterns. Their traditional disdain for farming and other forms of sedentary activity stood in the way of modernization. Only priestly service to Buddhistic Lamaism has ever formed an acceptable alternative to the wandering existence of the pastoralist.
Formation of a people's republic under Soviet control wrought great changes for Mongolia. The approach to modernization was gradual and perhaps for that reason successful. Although a large percentage of the labor force is engaged in animal husbandry, it is state controlled and based on collectively organized farms and ranges. Associated with collectivization were a scientific approach to animal raising and centralized rural organization. Other improvements in medicine, transportation, education, power production, and mining followed. The influence of the traditionally powerful religious establishments the lamaseries was eliminated. Major crops include wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, vegetables, and hay.
Socialist planning also led to an increased emphasis on industrialization as a means to modernize the country and to improve the standard of living. At the time of its founding in 1924, there was no industry in the republic. After World War II there was rapid progress in constructing such industries as flour milling, mining, power production, textiles, and other manufacturing. Mongolia is rich in mineral resources, and major deposits of coal, iron, copper, gold, silver, and fluorspar have been discovered. While the mining and sale of these to foreign countries is significant, Mongolia seeks to diversify its economy.
The economy and trade patterns were strongly influenced by the Soviet Union. Mongolia's main trading partners were the Soviet Union and its allies, but the country hoped to reopen trade with China and with the West. Beginning in June 1991, the government made moves toward establishing a mixed economy in Mongolia. Some state properties would be privatized, though key companies in transportation, mining, fuel, and telecommunications, as well as pastureland, were to remain state owned. Price reform was planned, and foreign aid and investment were sought. Economic reform was accompanied by a new constitution adopted in January 1992.
The major transport artery is the Trans-Mongolian rail line. It connects Ulaanbaatar northward to the Trans-Siberian line and southward to a line extending across the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region that eventually terminates within Beijing.

History and Government

The early origins of the Mongolian people are not well known. Several different nomadic tribal groups Hsiung-nu, Tungus, and Turks occupied the vast area extending from northeastern China to Central Asia known today as Mongolia. From the 4th century BC to the T'ang Dynasty (AD 618-907), when the Mongols were first recognized, these various peoples had established their dominion and way of life over the steppe land. Aided by their mobility in warfare as mounted archers, these tribes came together as a loose confederation under the leadership of the great Genghis Khan in 1206 (see Genghis Khan).
The Mongols dominated a region that included most of China and much of Eurasia as the Yuan, or Mongol, Dynasty. While control of China lasted only about a century, the Mongols held sway over much of Central Asia for several centuries. From the end of the 17th century until 1911 the Chinese Ch'ing Empire controlled the neighboring territory known as Mongolia. (See also Mongol Empire.)
With the collapse of the Ch'ing Empire in 1911, an independent feudal monarchy was established. There was opposition within the country, however, to this monarchy. An antifeudal movement, organized in part with Soviet assistance, overthrew the feudal monarch in 1921, and the Mongolian People's Republic was officially established in 1924 as the world's second revolutionary Marxist state.
From the 1920s until 1990 the socialism under which the country was organized and governed was gradually strengthened. Mongolia became established as a single-party socialist country of workers, farmers, and herdsmen. All citizens were guaranteed the right to work, health assistance, education, welfare in old age, and leisure. In 1990 a new Communist party constitution set the goal of building "democratic humane socialism" based on a multiparty democracy.
The government operates through organizations called Hurals, or legislative bodies. The major Hural is the national parliament and elects members of the judiciary and supreme court.
Until 1990 the Communist, or Mongolian People's Revolutionary, party was the only political party allowed to operate, and it controlled all decision making in the government. The party had close ties to the Communist party of the Soviet Union, and it also received a great deal of economic and military assistance from the Soviets.
Mongolia existed as a satellite of the Soviet Union for decades, but its role was mostly as a buffer state between the Soviet Union and China. Amid the collapse of Communism and the Soviet Union's disintegration in 1991, Mongolia, too, underwent rapid change. The Mongolian People's Revolutionary party surrendered its constitutional monopoly on power in March 1990 after months of pro-democracy demonstrations. Multiparty elections in July 1990 brought a coalition government and privatization of the economy.
In January 1992 a new constitution was adopted that renounced socialism, changed the country's name to the State of Mongolia, and made Mongolia a republic with parliamentary government and a directly elected president. Mongolia would remain neutral in international affairs.

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