Mongolia. It is a state in Northeast Asia. It borders the Republic of Russia (CIS) to the North and China to the East, South and West. The capital is Ulaanbaatar. Its main activity is the nomadic herding of different animals, with a modest agriculture that is based on the cultivation of cereals and sweet beets.
Administrative political organization
According to topb2bwebsites.com, Mongolia is divided into twenty-one provinces; and a municipality with provincial status:
- Arhangay
- Bayan-Ölgiy
- Bayanhongor
- Bulgan
- Darhan-Uul
- Dornod
- Dornogovĭ
- Dundgovĭ
- Govĭ-Altay
- Govĭsümber
- Hentiy
- Hovd
- Hövsgöl
- Ömnögovĭ
- Orhon
- Övörhangay
- Selenge
- Sühbaatar
- Töv
- Ulaanbaatar
- Uvs
- Zavhan
Geography
Mongolia, occupies an area of 1,560,500 square kilometers, constituting one of the highest countries in the world.
Orography
its orography is characterized by the mythical steppe plateaus, which rise in height in the north, forming the Altai Mongol and Hangai mountain ranges with the Monh Hayrahan Uul with 4,362 m. The Gobi Desert stretches to the south and west of the country.
Climate
The climate is of the extreme continental type, arid and cold, with little rainfall and significant seasonal (80 to 90 ºC) and diurnal (30 ºC) variations. The rains are concentrated between May and September, with the summers very short and winterscold and dry. Except in the northern mountain ranges, where the coniferous and birch forest extends, 80% of the surface is covered by grassy and shrubby steppes in the N, resistant to cold and the ice layer that covers the ground for long periods.
Hydrography
The hydrographic system is not very rich and is dominated by the Selenga rivers with its network of tributaries, which flows into the Arctic Glacier Sea, and the Kerulen, which flows into the Pacific Ocean. Both are born in the mountainous region of Changajn Nuruu, which is the most irrigated area in the country. In the rest of the territory, the endorheic regions predominate, the basin of the great lakes Uvs, Chobgol, Chirgis and Char being especially significant.
Relief
The geomorphology of the relief is dominated by a vast plateau whose average altitude is 1,500 m, higher in the NW, gradually descending towards the SE, where the eroded lands form a region of semi-desert plains with stony soils that link with the desert. of the Gobi.
Ulaanbaatar History
Ulaanbaatar, is the capital of Mongolia and the most populous city in the country. It is one of the coldest cities in the world. Its population in 2008 reached just over one million residents. The city stands out for its Soviet architecture adorned with Tibetan and Buddhist buildings.
Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, was founded in 1649 as a town-monastery called Orgone (known as Urga or Urgà in the western world), which flourished during the 1860s mainly because it was located as a commercial center between Russiaand China.
Mongolia proclaimed its independence in 1911 and, when the city was named the country’s capital in 1924, its name changed to Ulaanbaatar, which means ‘red hero’ in the Mongolian language, in honor of the Mongol national hero Sukhbaatar, who liberated Mongolia from the troops. by Ungern von Sternberg (one of those characters that could only exist in that remote time.
He was an Austrian military man, who went over to the Russian side, where he fought with the White Russian army, that is, the faithful to the tsarist side during the Russian revolution, then he conquered Mongolia, expelling the Chinese, to be a private warlord and end up being delivered by his own men to the Russian Red Army, his cruelty and bad temper were widely known) and the Chinese rule, fighting in the Soviet Red Army. His statue adorns the main square of Ulan Bator.
The Mongolian capital Ulan Bator has not seen war-related destruction except in 1921 when the Battle of Urga in which Baron Ungern von Sternberg defeated the 10,000 Chinese garrison men (who had occupied Urga without a battle).
During the Battle of Urga it was mainly the outskirts of the city that suffered damage largely due to fires. It was instead the harsh policies of Prime Minister Choibalsan in 1937 that led to the destruction of entire sectors of the city. The Zuun Khuree, central palace-temple complex, noble residences, many ger districts, as well as the main markets were completely destroyed to make way for more modern buildings. Therefore, some buildings survive from before 1937.
Pre-1937, surviving buildings are: Dambadarjaalin Monastery in Sukhbaatar District (1765), chapels of the great Dashchoilin Yurt Monastery (built in 1778), the golden-roofed Gandan Monastery Gandantegchinlen, the temple also called Dugan Tsogchin (1838), the Vajradhara temple (1841), the Zuu temple (1869), the Didan Laviran temple (19th century), the restored building of the Russian Consulate (1863), the Erdem Itgemjit temple (1893) the Winter Palace Bogd Khan, the rest of the buildings in the Palace of the same (from 1893 to 1906), the Ulaanbaatar Museum of History, which was the private residence of the wealthy Buryat Badamjav Tsogt merchants (1904), the Zanabazar building of the Art Museum which was called Khorshoo Ondor (1905), the two-story brick headquarters of the “Mongolore” mining company (1905), the Megjid Janraisig temple (1913 – 1914), the residence of Wang Chin Khanddorj, a nobleman and prominent politician in the early years of Mongolian independence (1913).
Democratic protests of 1989-1990
Ulan Bator was the scene of demonstrations that led to Mongolia’s transition to democracy and a market economy in 1990. The October to December of 1989, protesters outside the House of Culture, Youth asked Mongolia to implement perestroika and glasnost in its fullest sense. Dissident leaders demanded free elections and economic reform. On January 14, 1990, the protesters, having grown from two hundred to over a thousand people, gathered at the Lenin Museum in Ulan Bator. A demonstration in Skhbaatar Square on January 21 followed. Subsequently, the weekend demonstrations in January and February were held accompanied by the formation of the first Mongolian opposition parties. On March 7, ten dissidents gathered in Skhbaatar Square and went on a hunger strike. Thousands of followers joined them. More arrived on March 8, and the crowd grew more rebellious; Seventy people were injured and one death. On March 9 the government of the communist Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party resigned. The provisional government announced Mongolia’s first free elections, which were held in July. The MPRP won the elections and power is resumed.
Since Mongolia’s transition to a market economy in 1990, the city has seen further growth – especially in the yurt neighborhoods, as the construction of new housing blocks had basically broken down in the 1990s. The population was It has more than doubled to more than a million people, about 50% of the entire population of Mongolia. This causes a number of social, environmental and transport problems. In recent years, the construction of new buildings has gained new momentum, especially in the city center, and apartment prices have skyrocketed.
2008 protests
In 2008, Ulan Bator was the scene of unrest after the Mongolian Democratic Civic Party and Republican parties disputed victory of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party. in parliamentary elections. Around 30,000 people participated in a public meeting led by the opposition parties. After the meeting had ended some protesters left the central square and moved to the nearby headquarters of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party, attacking and burning the building. A police station was also attacked. In rowdy nights set fire to the Palace of Culture, where a theater, a museum and a national art gallery were destroyed and burned. Torched cars, bank robberies and looting were reported. The organizations in the burning buildings were vandalized and looted. The police used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons against stone-throwing protesters. A four-day state of emergency was declared as the capital was placed under a curfew from 10:00 pm to 8:00 am, and the sale of alcohol was banned, after which no riot measures were resumed. Five people died and hundreds were detained by the police during the repression of the riots. Human rights groups expressed concern about the authorities’ handling of this unprecedented incident.
