Mongolia: Map & History

History

The Khoit Tsenkher Cave in Khovd Province shows lively pink, brown, and red ocher paintings (dated to 20,000 years ago) of mammoths, lynx, bactrian camels, and ostriches, earning it the nickname "the Lascaux of Mongolia". The Venus figurines of Mal'ta (21,000 years ago) testify to the level of Upper Paleolithic art in northern Mongolia; Mal'ta is now part of Russia.

Neolithic agricultural settlements (c. 5500–3500 BC), such as those at Norovlin, Tamsagbulag, Bayanzag, and Rashaan Khad, predate the introduction of horse-riding nomadism, a pivotal event in the history of Mongolia which became the dominant culture. The ethnogenesis of Mongolic peoples is largely linked with the expansion of Ancient Northeast Asians.

Government and politics

Mongolia is a semi-presidential representative democratic republic with a directly-elected president. The people also elect the deputies in the unicameral legislature, the State Great Khural. The president appoints the prime minister and nominates the cabinet on the proposal of the prime minister. The prime minister is the head of the executive branch.

The State Great Khural, with 126 seats, is chaired by the chairman of the State Great Khural. Its members are directly elected, every four years, by popular vote. According to V-Dem Democracy Indices, Mongolia was autocratizing in 2024.

The president is able to veto the laws made by parliament, appoint judges and court justices, and appoint ambassadors. The parliament can override that veto by a two-thirds majority vote.

Economy

Economic activity in Mongolia has long been based on herding and agriculture, although development of extensive mineral deposits of copper, coal, molybdenum, tin, tungsten and gold have emerged as a driver of industrial production. Besides mining (21.8% of GDP) and agriculture (16% of GDP), dominant industries in the composition of GDP are wholesale and retail trade and service, transportation and storage, and real estate activities. Also, Mongolia produces one-fifth of the world's raw cashmere. The informal economy is estimated to be at least one-third the size of the official economy. As of 2022, 78% of exports went to the PRC, and the PRC supplied 36% of Mongolia's imports.

Culture

The Soyombo symbol represents the sun, moon, stars, and heavens per standard cosmological symbology abstracted from that seen in traditional thangka paintings.

The traditional dwelling is known as a ger. In the past it was known by the Turkic term yurt, but this has been changing as the Mongolian term becomes better known in English-speaking countries. According to Mongolian artist and art critic N. Chultem, the ger was the basis for development of traditional Mongolian architecture. In the 16th and 17th centuries, lamaseries were built throughout the country. Many of them started as ger-temples.