Mongolia is a high steppe and desert country located between China and Russia. Our region is completely landlocked. The plateau is usually between 900 and 1,500 meters in elevation.
Because the plateau is high, landlocked, and northerly, it has a dry and chilly climate. The average annual rainfall is less than 38 cm. As a result, successful agriculture can only be carried out with irrigation in areas where reliable water supplies are available. Wheat and oats are the most common crops in these irrigated areas. The Gobi Desert experiences temperature extremes as well, with summer daytime temperatures around 40°C and nighttime temps near 10°. Temperatures in the winter can drop to minus 50°C.
Mongolia is mostly grassland due to the harsh climate. Forests cover around 10% of the land area and are mostly made up of larch trees. These woods are predominantly found in the country’s northern regions.
People have had to adapt to a pastoral, nomadic existence throughout history. Our livelihood and goods were centered on animal products such as wool, hides, meat, fabric, and leather. As nomads, we needed personal items that were both highly portable and, necessary functional. Because the area has been barren of trees for generations, manufacturing has been difficult, and the existing fuel, dried animal dung, is scarcely suitable for heavy industry.
Mongolia appears to have been occupied by humans as long back as 200,000 BC. Mongolia’s prehistory will undoubtedly be filled in as time and archeological work develop, but for the time being it must rely on data from other countries. It largely described the warrior races against whom China’s Great Walls were constructed and deadly wars waged. The majority of the raids were looting raids by several tribes who were at odds with one another. All that was required for serious social upheaval was a visionary leader with the strength of arms to carry it out. Temujin was subsequently known as Genghis Khan. He witnessed his father being slaughtered by a rival tribal group while he was a child. He began a protracted campaign of vengeance after escaping. Temujin was allegedly betrayed or abandoned by associates from time to time, so he made it a policy to only trust those who had proven their commitment to him. Men were given the opportunity to ascend through the ranks and attain positions of power and influence in exchange for their loyalty. In 1206, Temujin was proclaimed Genghis Khan.
Genghis Khan initiated operations to expand his domain after uniting the Mongolian tribes. The Mongols established an empire that included Central Asia, northern Europe, northern India, and border regions such as northern Vietnam and Korea. Until approximately 1370, when they were forced out of Beijing, his sons, grandsons, and heirs to his skills as an administrator and military tactician ruled over all of his territory.
After the fall of the Mongol Empire, Mongolia no longer had a significant part in world politics, although individual tribes tormented Chinese society until the early twentieth century. Following the Russian Revolution, a section of Mongolia known as the Mongolian People’s Republic seceded from China and formed an alliance with Russia. Mongolia followed Russian-style communism for many decades.
In 1990, a group of influential young intellectuals called for a peaceful democratic revolution. Mongolia is now a multi-party democratic democracy with a market economy. Every four years, the President and Parliament are elected by popular vote.
