A landlocked East Asian country sandwiched between Russia and China, Mongolia (Mongolian: Монгол Улс; Traditional Mongolian: ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ ᠤᠯᠤᠰ Mongγol ulus) is sparsely populated, with around 3 million inhabitants spread over a territory more than twice the size of France/Texas/Kenya/Botswana. About half of that three million (plus two thirds of GDP) are in the capital of Ulaanbaatar, so once you leave the capital the rest of the country is very thinly populated. This probably has something to do with nearly half the country being covered by a sandy desert, and the other half being grassy steppeland. Nowadays it is home to peaceful people, and hasn't caught the world's attention for good or ill in the past half-millennium. And yet, Mongolia was once the center of an empire that ruled the Old World from the Danube to the Pacific Ocean.
Because of its location in the great Eurasian steppeland, Mongolia has been inhabited by horse-riding nomads since prehistoric times. These nomads, usually divided in rival tribes, were sometimes unified under a strong visionary ruler, and at such times engaged in wars of conquest against the Chinese, their sedentary neighbors to the South. It was in order to protect themselves from such invasions that the Chinese built the Great Wall. Although it should be noted that these nomadic peoples in the early days were either proto-Mongols or not Mongols at all.
The various empires that arose in Mongolia include the Xiongnu Confederation (a little-understood nomadic people that have long been associated with the European Huns, though recent analysis casts doubt on the connection), the Xianbei Empire, the Rouran Khaganate and the Liao Dynasty. At the end of the 12th century, as the tribes had once again fallen into disunion, a ruthless and ambitious chieftain named Temujin imposed his rule, organized the Mongols into a brutally efficient war machine, and proclaimed himself Genghis Khan. He then embarked on a series of conquests that his sons and grandsons would continue, until most of the Eurasian landmass was under their domination. Along the way, they laid waste to pretty much every polity in Asia and Eastern Europe (Central Asia, the Middle East, and the Kievan Rus' were particularly hard-hit) while those they didn't were turned into puppet states or tributaries (China, Korea, Vietnam). The 13th-century section in the history books of all countries in the region can be summed up as "Mongols paid a visit and wiped us out". Further conquests were nevertheless averted, mainly due to political in-fighting but also by strong resistance of peoples in the periphery; the 1260 Battle of Ain Jalut/Spring of Goliath in modern-day Israel, pitting them against Mamluk Egypt, is often cited as the defining Point of No Return that prevented them from expanding to Africa, while for various reasons campaigns for Japan, Vietnam, the Malay Archipelago, and the Indian subcontinent floundered. The emergence of such a huge empire created what came to be called "Pax Mongolica", in which warfare was lessened and movement of goods and ideas were made easier through efficient transportation. This unfortunately also made it easier for diseases to move; the 14th-century Black Death that affected 75-200 million people in Eurasia was most likely caused due to this freedom of movement.
The Mongol Empire fell apart, bit by bit, over the following century, with the tribes outside the Mongol heartland becoming assimilated into the native cultures; out of the four major empires it fragmented into, threenote quietly merged with the local Muslim dynasties, while the remaining one, the Yuan dynasty, became just the latest addition to the "barbaric hordes civilized by China" gallery. The tribes would unify again on later occasions, but they never again managed to conquer so much territory. In the 17th century, the Mongols, who by then had largely adopted Tibetan Buddhism, became vassals of the Qing Dynasty.
They regained their independence in 1921 as China was in the throes of the Warlord Era, but in short order they fell under the suzerainty of the Soviet Union. For better or worse, the move was a total necessity: even as late as the 1950s, after the Chinese Civil War, maps belonging to the Nationalist Chinese Government identified Mongolia as part of the Republic of China on the basis of being the successor to the Chinese Empire (in fact, the RoC government, even when confined to the island of Taiwan, continued to recognize Mongolia as part of China for the rest of the 20th century. While some laws were changed between 2002 and 2006 to permit Mongolia to be treated as a de facto foreign country, the RoC Constitution has not been amended to make the recognition formal as of 2015). Between Chinese anxiousness to reincorporate Mongolia and the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, the geographically huge but demographically small Mongolian People's Republic owed its continued independence to its role as a Soviet-endorsed buffer between the USSR and China. Mongolian politics and national defense was largely shaped on the basis of counting on this role while stuck between two of the largest countries in the world. During this period, the Mongols were led first by Damdin Sükhbaatar, for whom the capital (Ulanbaatar - "Red Hero") is named. Sükhbaatar is generally considered to be the Father of modern Mongolia. Unfortunately, he died of overwork in 1923 (though popular narratives suggest he was poisoned). The other important leader of Mongolia during this period was Khorloogiin Choibalsan, whose nickname "the Stalin of Mongolia" should tell you everything you need to know about him.
In the 1950s, a small minority of Mongolian leaders, including the leader of the time, Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal, pursued the incorporation of Mongolia into the Soviet Union, but this was shot down by the rest of the ruling party and the USSR itself. The arrangement did ensure no further military action taken against Mongolia, even during the Sino-Soviet split.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Mongolia became a democracy, but it has found the transition from decades of collectivized economy difficult. These days, it is somewhat famous for its velociraptors (of the fossilized variety of course).
Mongols have a geographic distribution far outreaching the titular country. China actually houses twice as many Mongols as Mongolia does (6 million vs 3 million). This is because, like the Turks, what you call "Mongols" are just the largest bit of a group of related peoples (but unlike the Turks, the Mongols have only one nation-state). Most Mongolian and Chinese Mongols are part of the Khalkha tribe. The next largest, Oirats, are the Mongols you find in Xinjiang and European Russia (they migrated there to escape the Ming dynasty and today are better known as Kalmyks
). Buryats, the third largest, are found in Russia's Buryatia, which borders Mongolia. The other tribes are much smaller and primarily reside in either China or Mongolia. There are also descendants. When Genghis Khan invaded Afghanistan in 1221, some of his soldiers decided to go native and settle in the Bamyan Valley. A Mongol language was still spoken in the country by 1970s, but most of the Mongol descendants have assimilated to the Persian-speaking population. They are nowadays called the Hazaras, and the area where they live is known as the Hazarajat.
The Mongolian language is a part of the Mongolic language family, which more or less consists of it and a couple of nearby languages with far fewer speakers. There have been theories connecting it with other isolated Eurasian families (including the Japonic, Korean and Turkic families) as a part of the Altaic super-family, but this family's existence lacks academic consensus. Nevertheless, clear parallels with the Turkic family can't be denied; the two families have the same geographical origin, and the Turks, who were (and are) numerically superior, lent extensive vocabulary, including such important terms as "khan", "Tengri", and "Genghis" itself.
Family names are nonexistent in Mongolia. Instead, Mongols append their fathers' names before their given names. Damdin Sükhbaatar is called Sükhbaatar both in public and private, while Damdin, his father's name, is only written in official documents. Mongols do have the concept of clans, which used to be important (claiming that you are a member of the Borjigin clan was something of a cliche among Central Asian warlords back in the day). However, it has little use today.
Sometimes one will encounter references to Inner Mongolia and/or Outer Mongolia. "Inner Mongolia" refers to that portion of the traditional Mongolian homelands which is now a province of China. "Outer Mongolia" is what is now the independent nation of Mongolia. One difference is the writing system: Outer Mongolia switched to using Cyrillic in the 1930s due to the influence of the Soviet Union, whereas those left outside the state continue to use the original, Aramaic-descended script (one of the few that is absolutely required to be written vertically; Japanese and Chinese, though properly vertical, are nowadays more commonly written horizontally). Another difference is that 80% of Inner Mongolia is ethnically Han Chinese, not Mongoliannote .
The dishes commonly known as "Mongolian barbecue" and "Mongolian beef" have no connection to Mongolia, and actually come from Taiwan and Chinese-Americans, respectively.note
For works made by Mongolian creators, see Mongolian Media. For works by other creators set in Mongolia, see below.
Works set in Mongolia:
Anime and Manga- Tenmaku no Ja Dougal/A Witch's Life in Mongol is a historical manga by Tomato Soup about an educated slave girl named Sitara who is taken prisoner of war by the Mongolian Empire when Prince Tolui's army sacks her first mistress Fatima's town in Islamic Iran. Taking the name of her first mistress, Sitara becomes a lady-in-waiting to Sorghaghtani, who happens to be Tolui's wife, and has a fateful encounter with Töregene, Ögedei's resentful wife from a defeated enemy tribe.
Film
- The Cave of the Yellow Dog is about a young girl who adopts a stray dog against her father's wishes.
- Close to Eden, aka Urga is a 1991 film about a Mongolian shepherd who befriends a stranded Russian truck driver. Set in Inner Mongolia.
- The Eagle Huntress, a 2016 documentary about a young girl training to be an eagle hunter, among the Kazakh people of western Mongolia.
- Many Genghis Khan biopics.
- A 1950 Filipino black-and-white film entitled Genghis Khan starring (and directed by) Manuel Conde. It is among the earliest films portraying the story of the Khan (and was even screened at the Venice and Edinburgh Film Festivals). That said, the narrative of Temujin's life appears simplified (and the production suffers from Interchangeable Asian Cultures (the most egregious being making him wear a Japanese samurai ''kabuto'')—a major shortcoming of Filipino portrayals of Asia during the period).
- The Conqueror is a 1956 film most famous as a member of the Questionable Casting Hall of Fame. John Wayne played the lead role of Genghis Khan. Yes. John Wayne. Some have suggested that this film killed him, due to filming having taken place downwind of former nuclear testing areas. Of course, the fact that he was a chain smoker for decades might have played a role as well; that said, the cancer rate for the rest of the cast and crew was about double that of the general population.
- Genghis Khan is a 1965 film that is severely flawed but at least has Omar Sharif giving a much, much better performance than Wayne did.
- Mongol, a 2007 film directed by Sergei Bodrov, is a better (and more historically accurate) film than either of its two predecessors.
- Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea: a 2007 Japanese production, in Japanese, but shot on location in Mongolia and also historically accurate.
- A 1950 Filipino black-and-white film entitled Genghis Khan starring (and directed by) Manuel Conde. It is among the earliest films portraying the story of the Khan (and was even screened at the Venice and Edinburgh Film Festivals). That said, the narrative of Temujin's life appears simplified (and the production suffers from Interchangeable Asian Cultures (the most egregious being making him wear a Japanese samurai ''kabuto'')
- Joan of Arc of Mongolia: A group of Westerners taking the Trans-Mongolian Express from Russia to China get hijacked by a Mongolian tribe.
- Khadak is a 2006 Belgian film set in Mongolia with an all-Mongolian cast, about a nomadic family which is forced to leave the steppe behind and go work in a coal mine.
- Mongolian Death Worm: A Made-for-TV Syfy movie about people going up against the titular creatures.
- My Way is a 2011 Korean war movie that is a fictionalized account of Yang Kyoungjong, a Korean conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army. Yang's first experience with war comes in the 1939 Battle of Khalkin Gol, when Soviet & Japanese forces fought on the Khalka River of what was then the Mongolian People's Republic.
- Skiptrace, a 2016 action/comedy starring Jackie Chan and Johnny Knoxville, features the two of them trying to cross Mongolia to reach China (And through there Hong Kong) after being brought to Russia. The film is about what you'd expect from two such leading men, but these sequences took the pains to film in Inner Mongolia with Mongol actors/extras.
- Storm Over Asia is a 1928 Soviet propaganda film about a Mongol herder who leads the people of the steppe in revolt against their British Evil Colonialist oppressors.
- The Way Back (2010), directed by Peter Weir, is about a group of escapees from Stalin's gulag who flee into Mongolia, then have to cross the Gobi Desert on their way to China. It doesn't go well.
Literature
- Conqueror: A series of novels about the Mongol Empire.
- Blue Wolf by Inoue Yasushi is a fictionalized biography of Genghis Khan
- The poem "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is a fanciful portrait of Mongol conqueror Kublai Khan's summer palace in "Xanadu"—now Shangdu, and located in Inner Mongolia.
- While Mongolia itself never appears in the Legend Series, the main protagonist, Daniel "Day" Altan Wing and his brothers, John Suren and Eden Baatar, are half-Mongolian on their father's side. It is later revealed that Mongolia still exists, in spite of the changing global order causing many countries to merge or disappear.
- "The Private Life Of Genghis Khan" is a humorous short story by Douglas Adams depicting the mighty Khan as a Henpecked Husband.
- The Stone Council by Jean-Christophe Grangé is a thriller which plot features Mongolian shamanism and Soviet parapsychological experiments, as well as occasional references to Mongolia's 20th century history. The last act is set around an abandoned Soviet experiment center in Northern Mongolia. The country is anachronistically referred a couple of times as "Mongolian People's Republic", despite the story being explicitely set in 1999, several years after the end of the communist regime (1992)
Live Action TV
- The Brave episode 8 "Stealth" goes to Mongolia and the Altai Mountains as the protagonists are dispatched to recover the wreckage of a crashed Russian stealth drone. However, it turns out the drone's crash site is actually just barely a mile inside of Chinese borders, which greatly complicates the mission.
Music
- Tuvan throat singing is a uniquely-Mongolian form of overtone music which has attracted interest starting from the early 2000s. Notable musicians include Altan Urag and Khusugtun (particularly its lead Batzorig Vaanchig) from mainland Mongolia, and Hanggai from Inner Mongolia in China.
- Folk Metal band The Hu are arguably the cultural figureheads of present day Mongolia. Their brand of music combines traditional heavy metal with traditional Mongolian instruments as well as throat singing. Their surprising popularity abroad has also awarded them the Order of Genghis Khan, Mongolia's highest state award, in 2019.
- Masashi Ozawa, who is actually Japanese, was billed from Mongolia as Killer Khan.
Video Games
- Age of Empires II: The campaign of Genghis Khan shows his rise to power, by uniting Mongolia, and his conquest of Asia to Europe.
- Civilization: The Mongols are usually one of the playable civilizations; they usually have some kind of advantage in cavalry, city-taking, or some other aspect of land warfare. Genghis Khan is typically the leader, but some iterations have Kublai, and the fourth installment has both. (In a famous and very embarrassing incident for the developers, they confused the leader art for Kublai in vanilla Civ IV with the leader art for Qin Shi Huangdi; this was corrected in the first expansion.). The New Frontier Pass DLC for the sixth installment has since added Kublai as a leader for both Mongolia and China (to whom he was, after all, Emperor Shizu of Yuan).
Visual Novels
- Phantom of Inferno's main heroine, Ein, is Mongolian, and her ending in the visual novel and the end of 2009 anime are set there.
The Mongolian flag
of the Soyombo script; the lower half shows the ever-familiar Yin-Yang symbol, symbolizing the mutuality of opposites, flanked vertically by a pair of rectangles, symbolizing honesty and justice on all levels of society, which are in turn accompanied by downward triangles, signifying vigilance against enemies from within and without, and flanked on both sides by the pillars of The Power of Friendship; the upper half shows the Sun and the Moon, symbolizing Mongolia's wish to exist forever under the skies, and topping the entire symbol is the flame of wealth.
The Mongolian national anthem
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Government
- Unitary semi-presidential republic
- President: Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh
- Prime Minister: Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene
- Chairman of the Khural: Gombojavyn Zandanshatar
Miscellaneous
- Capital and largest city: Ulaanbaatar (Улаанбаатар, ᠤᠯᠠᠭᠠᠨᠪᠠᠭᠠᠲᠤᠷ Ulaɣanbaɣatur)
- Population: 3,353,470
- Area: 1,566,000 sq km (605,000 sq mi) (18th)
- Currency: Mongolian tögrög (₮) (MNT)
- ISO-3166-1 Code: MN
- Country calling code: 976
- Highest point: Khüiten Peak (4374 m/14,350 ft) (35th)
- Lowest point: Hoh Nuur (518 m/1,699 ft) (74th)
