At the beginning of the 12th century, a union of Mongolian tribes, the Khamag-Mongol, was formed on the territory of modern Mongolia. At this time, the main opponents of the Mongols were the Tatars and the Chinese. In 1202, the troops of the Khamag-Mongol ruler – commander Temuchin, later known as Genghis Khan, conquered the Tatar state, a year later – the state of the Turkic and Mongol-speaking tribes – the Kereites, and in 1204 – the state of the nomadic Naimans. In 1206, Temujin was proclaimed supreme khan of all the Mongols and received the title of Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan ruled Mongolia from 1206 to 1227. He made three trips to Northern China, as a result of which the Mongols conquered the entire territory north of the Great Wall of China and received a huge ransom from the Chinese ruler for their withdrawal from these lands. Also in 1218, Genghis Khan conquered the lands of the Karakites in Central Asia, in 1219 he destroyed Bukhara and Samarkand, in 1223 his troops defeated the Russian-Polovtsian army on the Kalka River, and later Genghis Khan captured the Chinese lands where the Tanguts lived. On August 25, 1227, Genghis Khan died. Genghis Khan, with his military campaigns, turned the union of the Mongols into the Great Mongol Empire, rumors about the power of which spread throughout the world. The descendants of Genghis Khan ruled in China, they put an end to the Arab Caliphate, dominated Central Asia and imposed tribute on Russian and European lands. Check a2zdirectory for old history of Mongolia.

The period from the 14th to the 15th centuries in the Mongol Empire was marked by a series of civil strife. Only under Dayan Khan (r. 1470-1543) did the Mongols unite again into a single state. At the end of the 16th century, Buddhism became the official state religion. Buddhism taught tolerance, and that is why, by the end of the 17th century, the Mongols so easily passed into vassalage from the Manchu Qing dynasty, which dominated China.

Vassal dependence continued until 1912, when, as a result of the revolution in China, the Qing dynasty was overthrown. Outer Mongolia (territorially coinciding with present-day Mongolia) immediately declared its independence, and Inner Mongolia, which was located on the territory of the Republic of China, remained in its composition. The head of the Buddhist Bogdo Gegen became the head of independent Mongolia and Mongolia turned into a theocratic state. In 1918, after the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia, a revolutionary party was also formed in Mongolia. In 1921, with the support of the Soviet Red Army, a people’s revolution took place in the country and Mongolia was proclaimed a constitutional monarchy, under which the Bogdo Gegen remained the nominal head of state. Bogdo Gegen died in 1924, after which a republic was established in the country. Until its collapse, the USSR supported the Mongolian People’s Republic. Following the example of the USSR in Mongolia, a course was taken towards socialism, the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP) became the ruling party of Mongolia.

After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, democratic and economic reforms began in the country. Under pressure from the opposition forces, the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party was reorganized, and Marxism-Leninism ceased to be its main doctrine. In 1992, a new democratic constitution was adopted in the country, which introduced the post of president of the country. In the same year, the head of the MPRP, P. Ochirbat, was elected president. However, already in July 1996, the MPRP won only 25 seats out of 76 in the elections to the State Great Khural, and the leader of the opposition People’s Democratic Party became the head of the government. The rapid pace of transition to a market economy has led to a deterioration in the situation of a significant part of the population.

The Gobi Desert is the largest desert in Asia, it occupies 1/3 of the territory of Mongolia.. The Gobi is not a “classic” desert. It consists of 33 different ecosystems, mostly of semi-desert type. Only 3% of its territory is covered by sands, and the rest is occupied by semi-deserts, steppe communities and mountains.

The most interesting is the northwestern mountainous part of the desert, where the spurs of the Altai Mountains enter – the Gurvansaikhan ridge (heights reach 4000 m). On the eastern slopes of the range, the Gurvansaikhan National Park was established in 1993. The area of the park is 27000 sq. km, this is the largest protected area in Mongolia. The local mountains are inhabited by snow leopards (irbis), the largest mountain sheep in the world – argali – and mountain goats Ibeks. In the steppes surrounding the mountains, there are Asian wild ass kulan, black-tailed gazelle and foxes, and in arid regions – wild havtagai camels and gobi bear mazalai. In addition, about 200 species of birds live here. The best time to observe the animals in the park is September. The famous Yolun-Am gorge is located in the Gurvansaikhan National Park, where there are birds of prey – bearded vultures (in Mongolian “yol” means bearded). Also in this gorge you can see wall-climbing birds, snowcocks and four species of finches. The bottom of the gorge is covered with ice fields, which in the past persisted throughout the year. Now in the summer, the ice fields disappear. Also on the territory of the park is the 180-kilometer Khongorian Ils dune (Singing Sands). The dune has a height of several hundred meters and a width of 300 m. Among the sands is the Khongorin-Gol spring, near which irises bloom for several days in June. The eastern part of the Gobi Desert is called Bordzon-Gobi. It is home to black-tailed gazelles and the wild ass kulan (these are the easternmost habitats of kulans in the world). There are several lakes in the Gobi desert where you can watch birds. These lakes include Boon-Tsagan-Nur and Orog-Nur.