Projects Ahora o Nunca: Mongolia
2. GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL BACKGROUND
Landlocked between the regions of Eastern Asia and Central Asia, the Republic of Mongolia (Монгол улс in Mongolian) is indeed a country sunk in almost universal oblivion, overshadowed by its two gigantic neighbouring powers, China and Russia, countries closely linked to its history.
The ancient and legendary Mongolian empire spread from Southern Asia to central Europe during the 13th Century. However, the country would later lose its independence and be annexed by China, which turned Mongolia into one of its provinces (Interior Mongolia) from the late 17th Century until 1921, when Mongolia regained its independence. The People’s Republic of Mongolia was proclaimed in 1924. It adopted policies of a socialist tendency and developed close relations with the Soviet Union. Following the collapse of Communism in 1990, a Constitution was approved in 1992, which marked the transition to democracy and with which the country would rename itself the Republic of Mongolia.
This enormous country is three times the size of Spain and more than four times the size of the United Kingdom and has a population of less than 3 million people. It is the nineteenth largest country of the world with a total area of 1,565,500 square kilometres. Nonetheless, the country has an exceptionally low population density of less than one inhabitant per square kilometre. Out of approximately 2.8 million inhabitants, a high percentage (in the region of 30%) leads a nomadic or semi-nomadic way of life. Over 75% of the population belongs to the Khalka ethnic group and a minority belongs to other ethnic groups such as the Kazakh. The country’s main religion is Lamaism, a fusion between Buddhism and the Tibetan cult, which makes Mongolia, together with Tibet and Butan, one of the few regions of the world where this religion is predominant. Its capital, Ulaanbaatar, hosts one third of the total population.
From a topographical point of view, the country is located on a vast plateau, marked by strong landscape contrasts, which include the largest expanse of steppes on earth, abrupt mountains in the North and West, the Lake valley in the Northeast and the aridity of the feared Gobi Desert in the South. The inhospitable character of its geography is exacerbated by extreme continental weather conditions that make life in certain areas almost unbearable during many months of the year (during the long, tough winters, the mercury sinks below 40 degrees Celsius).
