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Administrative division
Mongolia is divided into 21 provinces (called an aimag), with
the average territory of one province of 74.5 square kilometers
and a population of 90.0. The aimag with biggest territory
is Umnugobi (165.4 square kilometers)
and the aimag with the largest population is Huvsgul
(117.0 population) The provinces and cities are divided into
soums and districts. A soum has an average territory of 4.9
square kilometers and a population of 2.7.
 Altitude
Mongolia’s surface form is very diverse, including high
mountains, boundless steppes, vast valleys and the Gobi
desert. Three great ranges-the Mongol Altai, Khangai,
and Khuvsgul mountains-dominate northern Mongolia. Over 20
peaks, such as Tavan Bogd, are capped with eternal snow in
the Altai Mountain range, and Otgon-Tenger (4,021 meters)
and Munkh Saridag (3,461 meters) of the Khangai and Khuvsgol
Mountain Ranges. The Asralt Khairkhan Mountain of Khentii
range is capped with eternal snow some years.
Animals of Mongolia
Mongolia has a rich fauna: 140 species of mammals,
415 species of birds, about 22 species of reptiles, 8 species
of amphibians, 80 species of fish, and over 15,000 species
of insects.
White-tailed Gazelles (2 million heads) make up the largest
number of large wild mammals.
Mongolia has vertebrate species endemic to Central Asia (i.e.
found nowhere else). Most are in the Gobi
Desert Zone and the Desert-Steppe Zone, including the
Mongolian subspecies of the Saiga Antelope (Saiga tartaric
Mongolica), four species of nocturnal jerboas (Long-eared
Jerboa, Pygmy Jerboa, Mongolian Jerboa etc.) and Brandt’s
Vole.
Endemic birds (i.e. found nowhere else on Earth) include Altai
Snowcock and Kozlov’s Acceptor. Endemic reptiles are
eight species. Endemic fish include Altai Osman and Mongolian
Grayling.
Climate
Mongolia's climate is extremely continental,
with long cold, dry winters and short warm summers.
On the whole, the Mongolian climate is rather arid: the annual
precipitation is 200-300mm, of which 80 to 90% falls within
five months (May - September). Therefore, the country receives
little snow in winter, although snow blizzards rarely do occur.
However, July and August boast sufficient rain to make the
rivers swell. Furthermore, Mongolia is the land of winds and
especially sharp winds blow in spring. In the Gobi
and steppe areas winds often develop into devastating storms,
reaching a velocity of 15-25 meters per second. Ulaanbaatar
is the coldest winter capital in the world, but enjoys a hot
summer as Mongolia is a remarkably sunny country with 250
sunny days per year!
 Contortion
folk acrobat
Twisted, distorted "snaky people," or contortionists,
perform the type of classical Mongolian dancing probably most
familiar to people outside Mongolia.
Long song
Another unique traditional singing style is known as Urtiin
duu, or long song. It's one of the oldest genres of Mongolian
musical art, dating to the 13th century. Urtiin duu involves
extraordinarily complicated, drawn-out vocal sounds. It is
evocative of vast, wide spaces and it demands great skill
and talent from the singers in their breathing abilities and
guttural singing techniques.
Long songs relate traditional stories about the beauty of
the native land and daily life, to which Mongolians offer
blessings. These feelings are formed into majestic, profound
songs, such as "The Pleasure Sharing Sun of Universe",
"The Old Man and the Bird", "The One and Only
Real Love", "Sunjidmaa, the Beloved".
Mongol Hoomii
Mongol hoomii involves producing two simultaneous tones with
the human voice. It is a difficult skill requiring special
ways of breathing. One tone comes out as a whistle-like sound,
the result of locked breath in the chest being forced out
through the throat in a specific way, while a lower tone sounds
as a base. Hoomii is considered musical art - not exactly
singing, but using one's throat as an instrument.
 Morin
khuur
Perhaps the most ancient musical instrument of the Mongols
is the "morin-khuur", invented at least a thousand
years ago. In Mongolian, morin means horse, and khuur means
sound, ryme, melody.
This instrument's history is based on a legend of a man who
had a beloved, magical horse that could fly. When an evil
man killed the horse, the man made an instrument from the
horse so that he could remember it. Originally, the handle
of the horse-head fiddle was made of horse ribs and its base
was horse skin.
Today, the long tail hair of a horse ridden since childhood
is used for the strings. It is said each tail hair fiber should
be processed until it "starts talking". To honor
the horse, its head is carved of wood and placed where the
scroll would be on a violin. The wooden neck and the sound
box of the instrument are sometimes decorated by the five
elements and the horoscope animals of the Buddhist 12-year
calendar, and the symbol of eternity is depicted on the sides
of the box. The tone of the morin khuur is tender and slightly
languorous.
Tsam-Religious Dance
The ancient religious mask dance, or Tsam, is a significant
religious ritual which reflects Buddhist teachings through
images. It is a theatrical art performed by skilled dancers
wearing magnificently ornamented costumes, which represent
characters of different holy figures and devils, animals,
and people.
Through story, music, and dance, the wide range of personalities
of the characters are depicted. To symbolize positive and
negative attributes, characters from popular stories, and
animals such as the Khangarid (lord of flies), lion (the king
of wild animal), stag (the beauty among animals), crow (the
soothsayer) and various domestic animals are imitated. Furthermore,
the colors and decoration of the costumes are clues as to
the nature of the personalities of the characters.
Tsam mask dancing is included in the art form called "Doigar,"
which embodies independent imagination, one of the ten kinds
of wisdom according to ancient Indian philosophy. The Tsam
dance ceremony was first introduced to Mongolia in the 8th
century, when the famous Indian Saint Lovon Badamjunai was
invited to Mongolia to sanctify the construction of the first
Tibetan Buddhist temple, Samya. From that time, the Tsam dance
was performed following the traditional teaching of Nyambdeyan,
and during the 16th century, it became popular in Dash-Ihum
temple Uigien Namjra and other places. Eventually, more than
500 monasteries of the 700 Mongolian monasteries had their
own local variations of the ceremony.
Currency
The Mongolian national currency is the Tugrik (T of MNT).
All major currencies can be exchanged at banks and licensed
exchange centers in Ulaanbaatar.
Exchange rate (approx) MNT1213=US$1 as of January 4, 2005.
Visa, Master Card, American Express, JCB AND Thomas Cook Travelers
Cheques are accepted at banks. Most credit cards are accepted
at biggest hotel, restaurant and supermarkets in Ulaanbaatar.
Banknotes are valued 1, 3, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1.000,
5.000 and 10.000 Tugrik, of which the smallest notes are hardly
used.
 Naadam
the National Festival
At the height of a summer, one of the best times to visit
the country occurs the most famous festival of three games
of a man – the Naadam Festival. It is celebrated on
July 11-13 annually across the country with every town and
village holding contests in traditional wrestling, archery
and horse racing. The official opening ceremony of Naadam
in Ulaanbaatar is spectacular event.
Early in the morning of the first day, a ceremony is held
in the center of the city and riders dressed as Chinggis Khan’s
entourage parade from the square to the central stadium. At
the stadium a huge procession is held including hundreds of
adults and children dressed in costumes representing Mongolia’s
numerous ethnic groups. The opening ceremony features colorful
show with folk music and dance, official opening speech of
a president of Mongolia, parachute show and many more.
Wrestling contest, the highlight of three games
of a man begins after opening ceremony. Originated some seven
thousand years ago the technique and ritual of Mongolian wrestling
is distinctly national. The contestants come out on the field
leaping and dancing, flapping their arms in imitation of an
eagle. There are no weight categories or age limits and the
wrestler have to knock the opponent off balance making him
touch the ground with his elbow and knee.
Horse racing is also century’s old sport,
dating back to bronze age. It is a horse race depending of
age of a horse. Two to three hundred riders aged between 5-12compete
in every age category in distance of 15 to 35 km.
Archery contest takes place outside of central
stadium in a archery field, where man and women dressed in
tradition nal costume aim at a target of first-sized baskets.
Men shoot 40 arrows in a distance of 75m and women deliver
20 arrows in a distance of 60m.
Tsagaan Sar
(Lunar New Year) the National Festival
The Mongolian calendar operates in 5 cycles of twelve years,
each cycle being named after an element (earth, water, fire,
ice and wind) and each year bearing the name of an animal.
The lunar new year is celebrated over three days in late January
or early February, the coldest time of the year (hence the
meaning of the name – White Month). The Mongolian hospitality
reaches its peak over this period, and homes are filled with
visitors, feasting on milk products and buuz (beef or mutton
dumplings). Toasts are made with fermented mares milk (airag)
or arkhi (distilled from fermented cows’ milk). The
festival is celebrated with winter sports, traditional song
festivals and other cultural events. At this time monasteries
are full of people, usually wearing new dels (traditional
gowns), praying and blessing Lord Buddha.
Government
Mongolia has parliamentary type of government, with the President
second in authority to state Great Hural (Parliament).
 Languages
Mongolian language ('Khalkha Mongol') is the first language,
spoken by 90% of population.
Foreign languages spoken mainly in the cities include English,
Russian, German, Japanese and French. Its script is Cyrillic
due to Russian influence; however a switchback to traditional
script is now taking place in schools. Second language, Russian,
is spoken by most graduates, as many Mongolians were formerly
educated in Russia.
Location
Mongolia is located in the center of the continent of Asia
and covers on area of 1,564,116 square kilometers, making
it the 18th largest country in the World.
The total length of the borders of Mongolia is 8,216 kilometers,
and 3,543 of these are the long border with the Russian Federation
and 4,673 are the long border with China.
Mongolia is one of the 38 countries on the world with no marine
coastline. The nearest point to the sea is about 1,000 kilometers
away from it.
People and Population
Mongolia has had approximately 2.5 million people by the beginning
of 2003. Pure growth of population is accounted as 24.1 people
for 1000 people. The majority (86%) are Khalkh Mongols. Other
ethnic groups include Kazaks
(6%) in western Mongolia, the Tsaatan
or reindeer people (only about 200 people) in the north of
Mongolia and more than twenty other tribes of Mongolian or
Turkic descent. Two-thirds of the population is younger than
30. Much of the population growth has been absorbed in urban
areas. The present urban population is over one million. With
just over 700.000 inhabitants, Ulaanbaatar
houses a third of Mongolia's population. However, a significant
part of the urban populations still live in ger (traditional
housing) habitations in town peripheries. The population density
of Mongolia is extremely low: just over 1 person per square
km.
 Plants
of Mongolia
Mongolia has approximately 4,000 species of plants. There
are over 150 species of endemic plants (i.e. species found
in Mongolia but nowhere else in the world).
Forests make up 11.4% (18 million hectares) of Mongolian territory,
with 72% of the forests being dominated by Siberian Larch
(Larix sibirica). Species of birch trees (Betula friticosa,
Betula pendula and Betula humilis) and species of willow trees
(Sulix) are common in the valleys of the largest river. In
the arid Gobi region, occur groves
of the unusual small Saxaul tree Haloxyion ammondendron.
Religion
Buddhist Lamaism (94%), Islam
(6%). Still there is a strong influence of Shamanism,
especially in northern Mongolia.
Scenery
Mountains dominate two-thirds of the country. Mongolia's highest
peaks are permanently capped with snow and glaciers. Mongolia
has some 2.000 lakes. The largest rivers exit the country
northwards to feed Lake Baikal in Siberia. The mountainous
areas include relatively wet mountain meadow pastures and
steppe regions. In contrast, southern Mongolia is dominated
by the huge Gobi Desert. Nearly 10%
of Mongolia is forest, mainly conifers in the northern region
next to Siberia.
 Water
in an arid landscape
In spite of its aridity, the surface and ground water on Mongolia
is-substantial. Almost 4,000 rivers are present, with a total
length of 67,000 kilometer’s. Mongolia’s northern
part is well watered by lakes and rivers. These belong to
the three different basins: the Arctic Ocean, the Pacific
Ocean and Inland Basin of the Central Asia. Mongolia has 16
large lakes, each of more than 100 square kilometers. The
biggest is Uvs Nuur whose waters cover 3,350 square kilometers.
Many small lakes occur in the steppe and Gobi
region. Oases occur in the Gobi desert.
The steppe and the Gobi desert zone
are rich in ground water supply. The ground water is used
for drinking. Mongolia has about 400 springs.
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