Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered
by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an
area of 1,564,116 square kilometres (603,909 square miles),
with a population of just 3.5 million, making it the world’s
most sparsely populated sovereign state. Mongolia is the world’s
largest landlocked country that does not border a closed sea, and
much of its area is covered by grassy steppe, with mountains to
the north and west and the Gobi Desert to the south. Ulaanbaatar,
the capital and largest city, is home to roughly half of the country’s
population.
The territory of modern-day Mongolia has been ruled by various nomadic
empires, including the Xiongnu, the Xianbei, the Rouran, the First Turkic
Khaganate, the Second Turkic Khaganate, the Uyghur Khaganate and others.
In 1206, Genghis Khan founded the Mongol Empire, which became the largest
contiguous land empire in history. His grandson Kublai Khan conquered China
proper and established the Yuan dynasty. After the collapse of the Yuan, the
Mongols retreated to Mongolia and resumed their earlier pattern of factional
conflict, except during the era of Dayan Khan and Tumen Zasagt Khan.
In the 16th century, Tibetan Buddhism spread to Mongolia, being further led
by the Manchu-founded Qing dynasty, which absorbed the country in the 17th
century. By the early 20th century, almost one-third of the adult male population
were Buddhist monks. After the collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1911,
Mongolia declared independence, and achieved actual independence from the
Republic of China in 1921. Shortly thereafter, the country became a satellite
state of the Soviet Union. In 1924, the Mongolian People’s Republic was founded
as a socialist state. After the anti-communist revolutions of 1989, Mongolia
conducted its own peaceful democratic revolution in early 1990. This led to a
multi-party system, a new constitution of 1992, and transition to a market economy.
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